Ladies and gentlemen… they did it. After multiple tests, several errors, and a general failure that doomed the CRS-7 mission in June, SpaceX has just written a new chapter in the history of the space age by successfully landing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket, after placing into orbit without incident a total of eleven satellites for the Orbcomm company. This not only reinforces the concept of reusable rockets but opens the door to a future with much more economical launches.
A hard-earned triumph
Remember the game Lunar Lander? Although it wasn't one of the most popular titles developed by Atari, it has always been remembered for its difficulty. Now, if it was complicated to land a ship on the lunar surface, imagine what it must be like to land a rocket on Earth. Well... if anyone wants to practice, they can watch SpaceX's latest mission over and over on YouTube. Elon Musk's company conducted controlled tests in the past, and those in which they tried to place the rocket on a floating platform ended in relatively explosive failures. Then we witnessed the general failure suffered by the CRS-7 mission in the final days of June, something that Musk himself described as a "huge blow" for him and his team. A few hours ago, SpaceX not only recovered, but claimed a place in history...
The Orbcomm 2 mission
The official mission behind the launch, named Orbcomm 2 aimed to send eleven satellites that complete a constellation dedicated to monitoring transport vehicles, heavy machinery, and oil fields, among other things. The entire landing process took just over ten minutes. Once the second stage loaded with the satellites was activated, the first stage carried out a complex positioning maneuver, thus developing the ideal trajectory for its landing attempt. Apparently weather conditions were not perfect, but the rocket an optimized version of the Falcon 9 with 30 percent more power managed to stand upright like a monolith, intact.
Celebration and congratulations
The atmosphere at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was one of absolute euphoria during the launch and landing. It was very evident that everyone involved in the project needed this success after what happened in June, and we have no doubt that there were many tears among the cheers. Jeff Bezos (who managed to land a suborbital rocket last month) and NASA were the first to congratulate Musk and SpaceX, but we cannot deny that this is just the first step. Reusable rockets could radically change the way we send materials and personnel to space, and I imagine the rocket will be studied millimeter by millimeter to verify its integrity.
