SpaceX Falcon 9 is taking off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 30.
Photo:
John Raoux / Associated Press
We do not need to remind readers of the ways in which 2020 has been satisfactory, but there has been good news. The release of the Covid vaccine is a testament to American ingenuity, followed by a remarkable success in the launch of the SpaceX rocket.
The latter have become so commonplace that they hardly make the news. On Saturday the company fired the fuse on one of its 9 229-foot Falcon rockets, which were launched into the U.S. spy satellite orbit. This was the 26th event of 2020 at SpaceX.
The surreal-looking part is when the first stage of Falcon 9 crashes back to Earth, fires its engines to catch its crash, and then lands just. Saturday’s rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Eight minutes later, the first stage descended on a lying pad at nearby Cape Canaveral. If you have never seen the feat, check out the photos online.
The forward transmissions are a technical and economic achievement as they reduce the cost of access to orbit. The Falcon 9 uplift Saturday completed its fifth mission. This was SpaceX’s 70th successful remake, and in November a boost was used for the seventh time. SpaceX says one could fly 10 missions without doing a major redecoration. The company is aiming for a 24-hour transition from landing to rebroadcasting. For nearly a decade after the last Space Shuttle flight in 2011, Americans had to go on a trip to the International Space Station on Russian crafts. Now they can take the Falcon 9 with them.
Space exploration is dangerous, and two weeks ago a prototype of SpaceX’s Starship, a 160-foot silver rocket that founder Elon Musk wants to send to Mars, was quietly landed during testing. Instead it came down too fast and exploded in a ball of fire. But Mr Musk was not intimidated, at least on Twitter: “We got all the data we needed! Congratulations to the hell SpaceX team !! ”
The billionaire said this month that he is “very confident” that his goal is to send a man to Mars “six years from now,” or “if we get lucky, maybe four years.” “Mr Musk can get ahead of himself, but this year in particular we can use that high ambition.
Magazine Editorial Report: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson and Dan Henninger on the best and worst of the week. Image: Erin Scott / Reuters
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Appears December 22, 2020, print edition.