SpaceX Achieves Historic Rocket Launch and Landing from Florida to Bahamas
SpaceX marks a significant achievement by launching a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida and landing its booster off the Bahamas, enabling enhanced performance and recovery options.
SpaceX has accomplished a remarkable milestone, launching its Falcon 9 rocket from the coast of Florida and landing the rocket booster in another country for the first time.
On Tuesday, the mission signified a historic first as the Falcon 9 booster landed on a droneship off the coast of the Bahamas. The booster touched down on the "Just Read the Instructions" droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean nearly eight minutes after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk celebrated the achievement on X, stating, "This is the first time that a rocket has taken off from one country, gone to space and landed in another country!"
The capability to land in the Bahamas enables Falcon 9 to enhance its performance by launching into a southeast trajectory from the Florida Space Coast. This trajectory allows SpaceX to deploy additional satellites into orbit, facilitating human spaceflight missions like Fram2, designed to explore Earth from a polar orbit.
Additionally, SpaceX noted that landing off the coast of the Bahamas offers better winter weather conditions for recovery, ensuring that Falcon boosters can continue to deliver "rapid and reliable service" to their customers.
During the Tuesday mission, the Falcon 9 booster, which has previously launched cargo for eight astronauts to the space station and sent over 200 Starlink satellites into orbit, successfully delivered another 23 Starlink satellites into orbit before its return.
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