This article was published on May 6, 2016

SpaceX successfully lands its Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the second time


SpaceX successfully lands its Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the second time Image by: SpaceX / Flickr

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s other equally fascinating company, SpaceX has just pulled off another major achievement this year.

It successfully launched the JCSAT-14 Japanese communications satellite on its Falcon 9 rocket from its Cape Canaveral base in Florida, and landed the first stage of the rocket on its drone ship out at sea.

It’s the second time SpaceX has pulled this off. In April, the company launched a Falcon 9 on a mission to deliver an inflatable habitat to the International Space Station and landed it on the same drone ship, which is named ‘Of Course I Still Love You’.

The success of today’s mission is a feather in SpaceX’s cap because it shows that the company is capable of difficult flights – the JCSAT-14 had to be placed at an altitude of 22,300 miles, which is a whole lot more than the ISS habitat delivery at roughly 250 miles.

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

It also brings SpaceX closer to its goal of being able to reuse its rockets and save millions of dollars on subsequent flights.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with