SpaceX successfully lands second rocket at sea
SpaceX recorded a second successful at-sea rocket landing on 6 May, when its Falcon-9 booster touched down on a drone ship off the Florida coast. The rocket was used to launch a commercial communications satellite for SKY Perfect, a Japanese network.
Landing confirmed. Second stage continuing to carry JCSAT-14 to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. pic.twitter.com/HfHI5cwoYX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 6, 2016
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the landing had been achieved with "triple [the] deceleration of [the] last flight". SpaceX had flagged the difficulty of the mission, saying before the launch: "Given this mission's GTO [Geostationary-transfer orbit] destination, the first stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing unlikely."
Yeah, this was a three engine landing burn, so triple deceleration of last flight. That's important to minimize gravity losses.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2016
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