The SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully made a vertical landing at Capt Canaveral, Florida on Monday. The craft made its return 10 minutes after launch.
Since the launch of the first rocket into space in 1942, these masses of fuel and metal have either crashed, had separate components that would detach, or in extreme circumstances, exploded when it came to landing. There was also the high cost of manufacturing these devices for each use.
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Previous attempts to launch the rocket resulted in the procedure being aborted and the Falcon 9 exploding in mid-air due to an apparent overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. This is the first time the rocket has been launched since June’s explosion.
Read more: Watch SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket explode in mid-air
The historical event is a step in the right direction for creating re-usable rockets for space flight. While it’s still not viable to send mass amounts of people into space, it’s nice to see rockets can now land in a comedic fashion.
We can land a rocket vertically but we still can’t have a black 007.
High res video of landing from the helo https://t.co/G0Yq2V5J3m
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2015
