“We proved that it could work,” welcomed Elon Musk at the press conference that followed the feat, while SpaceX teams celebrated the event in an uproar worthy of a final of athletic competition.
Two thirty minutes after starting from the base of Cape Canaveral in Florida, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket “Full Thrust” is in effect separate from upstairs higher and after a delicate turning maneuver a hundred kilometers above sea level, began his descent and braking, to come to rest gently six minutes later on the narrow barge autonomous ASDS “of Course I Still Love You” (of course I still love you), tossed by waves and 300 km offshore. The second floor was then at 225 km at a speed of 18,815 km / h pursuing its shipping Dragon capsule mission of the CRS-8 to the International Space Station. It must deliver on Sunday at 13 pm (Paris) 3.1 t of cargo and equipment, as well as inflatable space module 1.4T BEAM manufactured by the company Bigelow.
C ‘ was the fifth time in fifteen months SpaceX attempted recovery of sea floor (previous attempts were held on 10 January 2015, 14 April 2015, 17 January and 4 March). On 23 December, the first stage of flight No. 20 had been recovered, but on the ground, and was not used again.
“I think it’s a good step for the future space flight as this will reduce costs, “said Elon Musk, explaining that fuel costs 300,000 dollars while the entire launcher is $ 60 million. He concluded: “If it can be recovered and reused quickly, reduces hundred times the cost of the launch. “
For now, upstairs recovered Friday will be examined to determine if it can fly again in two or three months to another commercial launch. “Ultimately, we hope that we can revive only a few weeks after recovery,” said the head of SpaceX
President Barack Obama praised the feat in a message on Twitter. “Congrats SpaceX on landing at sea a rocket it’s Because of innovators like you & amp;. That NASA America continued to lead in space exploration. ” (Congratulations to SpaceX for asking a rocket at sea. It is thanks to innovators like you and NASA as America continues to dominate space exploration).
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