'Kaboom': SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lands in the Atlantic
If Hawthorne-based rocket maker SpaceX can make the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket reusable, it could dramatically reduce launch costs.
As part of the company's efforts toward that goal, after successfully launching six Orbcomm satellites into space aboard a Falcon 9, it “soft landed” the rocket's first stage in the ocean. But it wasn't perfect.
A video posted to the company’s YouTube channel Tuesday shows the booster reentering Earth’s atmosphere, restarting its main engines twice, deploying landing legs and plunging into the Atlantic.
One problem, however, was what company founder Elon Musk called a “kaboom” on his Twitter account: The impact with the water caused a breach in the booster’s hull.
But despite the breach, the water landing provided all the data the rocket maker needs to make a successful landing in the future, SpaceX said. If the company can perfect the landing, it will be able to reuse the booster stage multiple times.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-soft-landing-video-20140723-story.html
