The US company has confirmed that the first-stage of the vehicle launched from Cape Canaveral a week ago used its engines to slow its fall, deployed a set of legs and made a "soft landing"The stage was vertical and had zero velocity on contact.
Extremely rough seas meant that a boat could not get to the scene for two days to try to salvage the stage before it sank.
Potentially, the experiment has enormous significance for the space industry.
Extremely rough seas meant that a boat could not get to the scene for two days to try to salvage the stage before it sank.
Potentially, the experiment has enormous significance for the space industry.
As a vehicle makes an ascent, it dumps propellant stages, which then fall to destruction, torn apart as they tumble end over end.
SpaceX believes if it can recover those stages and fly them again and again, the cost of access to space could be dramatically reduced.
"No-one has ever soft-landed a liquid-rocket boost-stage before," said SpaceX chief designer Elon Musk. "I think this bodes well for achieving reusability.
"What SpaceX has done thus far is evolutionary, not revolutionary. [But] if we can recover the stage intact and re-launch it, the potential is there for a truly revolutionary impact in space transport costs."
SpaceX believes if it can recover those stages and fly them again and again, the cost of access to space could be dramatically reduced.
"No-one has ever soft-landed a liquid-rocket boost-stage before," said SpaceX chief designer Elon Musk. "I think this bodes well for achieving reusability.
"What SpaceX has done thus far is evolutionary, not revolutionary. [But] if we can recover the stage intact and re-launch it, the potential is there for a truly revolutionary impact in space transport costs."
Amos, Jonathan, ed. "SpaceX rocket stage in 'soft landing.'" BBC News. British
Broadcasting Corporation, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
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