Elon Musk’s SpaceX will try to make history this in this next couple of hours (0133 GMT Tuesday) as it tries to land its most powerful Falcon 9 rocket in an upright position after launch. This is a key step toward making rockets as reusable as airplanes.
The California-based company is striving to revolutionize the rocket industry, which currently loses many millions of dollars in jettisoned machinery and sophisticated rocket components after each launch.
Instead of discarding rocket parts as debris, SpaceX is trying to guide the rocket’s first stage back to Earth for an upright, controlled landing within 10 minutes after launch, so that it could be used again on a future mission.
According to a statement from SpaceX, “If successful, this test would mark the first time in history an orbital rocket has successfully achieved a land landing,”
Several attempts to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on a floating ocean platform have failed — with the rocket either colliding with the autonomous drone ship or tipping over.
But SpaceX has insisted that each attempt has helped engineers come closer to perfecting the technique.
The takeoff is from Cape Canaveral, Florida
