SpaceX Falcon 9 Back on Track Post Failure; Lands Successfully

Inside the rocket, there is a replica of the docking port destroyed in an accident involving SpaceX last summer.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship are scheduled for launch at 12.45am EDT (1445 AEST) on Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The 15-story booster’s first stage returned back to earth just several kilometers away from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just eight minutes after it was launched.

Meanwhile, after the Progress rocket blasted off from Central Asia, SpaceX engineers have test fired the Falcon 9 rocket that possesses nine Merlin 1D first-stage engines for a short burn to check and confirm engine operations before finally launching on the first hours of Monday. The company is developing rockets that can be re-used, potentially cutting down on launch costs. Ready to fly again, SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted around 2:30 a.m.

Sonic booms that occurred when a SpaceX rocket re-entered the atmosphere caused a spike in 911 calls in the Cape Canaveral, Florida area, according to reports. SpaceX was able to put the EUTELSAT 117 West B and ABS-2A satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit, however, the landing was a complete loss.

‘Good launch, good landing, Dragon is on its way, ‘ said NASA mission commentator George Diller. The images, which were published to the company’s Flickr account this morning, show the Falcon 9 rocket taking off and performing its landing in great detail.

Dragon also carries a component for the station that will set it up for a new era of human spaceflight – the first of the two global docking adapters, or IDA. So far, three of the last four ocean landings have been successful. The capsule is headed toward the International Space Station (ISS) and is carrying 5,000 pounds (2,267 kilograms) of crucial supplies and equipment for the station’s crew.

SpaceX has successfully launched a docking port into orbit en route to the International Space Station.

“The hardware is a docking device, and it will enable NASA to send astronauts to the space station from American soil, instead of from Kazakhstan”, Glasby says.

It also launched a docking port for astronauts on Monday, which contains a DNA decoder for high flying genetic research, ABC 7 reports.