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Cooley Hurd

(26,877 posts)
Sun Feb 19, 2017, 01:36 PM Feb 2017

SpaceX launches rocket from historic NASA pad in Florida

Source: Reuters

By Irene Klotz | CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.
A SpaceX Falcon rocket blasted off on Sunday from a Florida launch pad once used to send NASA astronauts to the moon, a step forward for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and his company's goal of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

The 229-foot tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 soared off a seaside launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:39 a.m. ET carrying a Dragon cargo ship bound for the station.

Nine minutes after blastoff, the main section of the rocket flew back to a landing pad at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the eighth successful touchdown for Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

"Baby came back," Musk wrote on Twitter, celebrating the re-landing, which came a day after SpaceX decided to delay the mission 13 seconds before launch due to concerns about the steering system in the rocket's upper stage, the company said.

Sunday's launch was the first for SpaceX from Launch Complex 39A, originally built for the 1960s-era Apollo moon program and later repurposed for the space shuttles.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-spacex-launch-idUSKBN15Y05Z?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=58a9d04004d3014185447648&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter



Yeah man!!!!!!!!!!
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SpaceX launches rocket from historic NASA pad in Florida (Original Post) Cooley Hurd Feb 2017 OP
I'm glad it was successful. WhiteTara Feb 2017 #1
Wonderful. Science will prevail question everything Feb 2017 #2
Yeah man!!! :) Hortensis Feb 2017 #3
The booster llanding N77VG Feb 2017 #4
That's sorta like asking 'why didn't apple just start with an iPhone 7?' fleabiscuit Feb 2017 #5
Right out of a 1950's sci-fi rocket landing! Baclava Feb 2017 #8
Fly baby fly! Baclava Feb 2017 #6
Link to BBC nitpicker Feb 2017 #7

WhiteTara

(29,676 posts)
1. I'm glad it was successful.
Sun Feb 19, 2017, 01:53 PM
Feb 2017

Just yesterday there were concerns that these delays will mess with the space station schedules for astronauts.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
3. Yeah man!!! :)
Sun Feb 19, 2017, 03:20 PM
Feb 2017

We're supposedly able to see takeoffs, or at least the ascending vapor trails, at the space center across the Florida peninsula from us, but haven't caught one yet. This morning the clouds hadn't burned off yet. But it was a success without us, so great.

 

N77VG

(65 posts)
4. The booster llanding
Sun Feb 19, 2017, 03:34 PM
Feb 2017

is just as cool and exciting as the launch! I keep wondering why NASA never figured out how to do that.

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