On March 30th 2017, SpaceX made history by successfully launching the world's first reused rocket booster, with the lift off of its Falcon 9. The launch took place at 6:27pm EDT, and was this booster's second flight since launching in April of 2016, and the second SpaceX launch within a two week period. With a new upper stage, a half an hour later, the Falcon 9 successfully placed it's SES 10 Communications payload into orbit.
After making history, the rocket booster was then successfully returned from space to make a perfect landing at sea on one of SpaceX's drone ships. While the turn around time took about a year, the successful relaunch and the landing is a solid proof of concept for the reusable rocket approach for future space flight missions. The rocket that flew the historic flight was the second Falcon 9 that was ever recovered, and was first used to on a cargo resupply mission to the ISS.
The Falcon 9 first stage which houses the main engine and contains most of the fuel needed for lift off, represents 70% of the cost of a single mission. The ability to refly their rockets would serve as a cost saving measure for SpaceX. It took four months to get this historic booster ready for relaunch. SpaceX is looking forward to meeting the challenge of getting the inspection and refurbishing time down to 24 hours.
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