X

SpaceX to recover the Falcon 9 rocket it planned to lose

Elon Musk's rocket company sent a Falcon 9 to space for its second mission with no plans to land and bring it home. But Musk just couldn't say goodbye.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Eric Mack
2 min read
govsat

A recycled Falcon 9 carrying GovSat-1 awaited launch in Florida.

SpaceX

SpaceX has a hard time letting go of its rockets. 

A big part of the mission of Elon Musk's commercial space company is to drive down the cost of accessing space by making the rockets that get us there good for more than just one use. The company has achieved that goal by recovering and reusing a handful of its Falcon 9 rockets. This week it may even be able to recover a rocket that it was prepared to let sink to a watery grave.

The company launched a recycled Falcon 9 on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The rocket carried the GovSat-1 satellite to orbit, and SpaceX had with no intention of landing the rocket's first stage, either ashore or on a platform at sea. But it turns out that the rocket may be coming home after all. 

After the successful satellite deployment, Musk tweeted a photo of the Falcon 9 first stage floating on its side in the Atlantic Ocean. 

"This rocket was meant to test very high retrothrust landing in water so it didn't hurt the droneship, but amazingly it has survived," Musk tweeted. "We will try to tow it back to shore."

The rocket had already completed one successful mission before the GovSat-1 launch, when it sent a National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite to space last year. It's not clear whether the rocket will be in decent enough condition to be re-purposed for a third mission, but at least it probably won't end up on the ocean floor as a home for bottom-dwellers. 

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