After several failed attempts, Tesla founder Elon Musk and his SpaceX team finally launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space and brought the first stage back to Earth successfully.
The Post and Courier reported that the space exploration team launched the rocket Monday to the edge of space. There, it deployed a payload of commercial satellites and successfully landed the first stage back to Cape Canaveral. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is designed to specifically launch a craft to space since it is an orbital rocket.
It has to travel faster and higher than the sub-orbital rockets. It will also travel faster as it comes back down to Earth, which means it is more difficult to land it without damaging it. This makes the launch and the landing an unprecedented event.
In a report by Los Angeles Times, analysts say this is a giant step towards rockets being used as airliners. This will not only bring the global space industry into newer heights, but it could also transform where and how human beings would live in the future.
"Ultimately, he (Musk) wants to colonize Mars," said Teal Group space industry analyst Marco Caceres. "If you begin launching every other day, then no longer does that vision seem so outlandish."
Meanwhile, The Verge wrote that SpaceX's successful launching of its rocket and landing it back to earth makes space missions look much more affordable. Reusability of rockets could help the private spaceflight industry save a huge amount of money for its space missions.
Companies treat rockets as trash, sending them to space and build brand new ones every time they take off. This means they have to spend millions of dollars for each space mission. Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 only costs $60 million, and only $200,000 to fuel it. With SpaceX, rockets only need to be refuelled to be relaunched multiple times.
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