ASDS – Spaceflight Now

Photos: SpaceX booster lands for second time on drone ship

April 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s reused Falcon 9 first stage booster returned to a landing on an ocean-going platform a few minutes after launching March 30 with the SES 10 communications satellite, then returned to Port Canaveral early Tuesday.

Musk previews busy year ahead for SpaceX

April 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

There’s a lot on SpaceX’s agenda this year if the company can maintain its pace, including refinements of the Falcon 9 rocket to hasten refurbishment between flights and the debut of the long-delayed Falcon Heavy launch vehicle with two side boosters recycled from previous missions, Elon Musk said after last week’s successful liftoff of a previously-flown rocket.

SpaceX flies rocket for second time in historic test of cost-cutting technology

March 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sporting a fresh cleaning and several refurbishments took off Thursday from a seaside launch pad in Florida to send an SES communications satellite into space, then landed on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean to repeat a feat the same booster achieved nearly one year ago.

Previously flown Falcon 9 rocket lifted upright in readiness for launch

March 30, 2017 Spaceflight Now

Watch a time-lapse video of the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket being lifted into place on pad 39A in readiness for the launch of the SES 10 communications satellite. This will be a major milestone for SpaceX as it will mark the first time a flown Falcon 9 first stage has been reused.

Falcon 9 launch timeline with SES 10

March 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 10 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches previously-flown rocket

March 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, powered by a previously-flown booster, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT) Thursday. The mission, which lofted the SES 10 communications satellite, marks the first time SpaceX has reused the first stage of one of its Falcon 9 launchers.

SpaceX ready to put rocket reuse vision to the test

March 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 booster that flew into space last year is set to launch again Thursday from Florida’s Space Coast with an SES communications satellite on a historic mission that could make major strides in validating SpaceX’s audacious goal of recovering and reusing launchers, an achievement the company says will revolutionize the rocket business. Liftoff is set for 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT).

Companies offer fresh perspectives on recent rocket landings

May 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

In case the the sight of a large rocket plummeting back to Earth, only to be slowed in the last seconds by a puff of thrust, hasn’t lost its novelty yet, SpaceX and Blue Origin have released dramatic videos showing their recent powered rocket landings from new angles.

Photos: Falcon 9 streaks into space, lands on drone ship

May 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX achieved a double success Friday with the launch of a Japanese communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, followed minutes later by the touchdown of the Falcon 9 rocket’s 15-story first stage booster on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Falcon 9 succeeds in middle-of-the-night launch and landing

May 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese communications satellite rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Cape Canaveral early Friday, reaching an on-target orbit as the launcher’s first stage booster nailed a high-speed landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, logging another achievement for SpaceX’s cost-cutting reuse initiative.