SpaceX Successfully Soft-Landed Booster Rocket in the Atlantic

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Image: SpaceX

By Lance Ulanoff2014-04-25 17:40:50 UTC

Telsa CEO Elon Musk announced a major breakthrough in spaceflight on Friday: the successful soft landing of Falcon 9's reusable rocket booster stage in the Atlantic Ocean.

"I'm happy to confirm that we were able to do a soft landing in the Atlantic and all the data received back is that it made a soft landing and was in a healthy condition after that," Musk said.

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That's the good news.

The bad news: It landed in the middle of a strong storm and "the boost stage was subsequently destroyed by wave action," Musk said. SpaceX tried to find a boat with which to recover the rocket. "We even called the coast guard and the coast guard wasn't willing to go out."

The news comes a week after SpaceX's successful Falcon 9 rocket launch while its Dragon spacecraft remains docked with the International Space Station as it delivers cargo, supplies and Robonauts legs.

Musk revealed the potentially "revolutionary" news on Friday during a hastily organized press conference at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. In a short Q&A following the press conference, Musk said they have found some pieces, including one of the landing legs. He also noted that, eventually, they plan on landing the rocket back on land, where SpaceX will have a much better chance of rocket recovery.

"What SpaceX has done thus far is evolutionary, not revolutionary," Musk said. "If we can recover the booster stage, the chance is there for revolutionary."

SpaceX's next attempt for a soft landing of the rocket boosting stage will be with a upcoming commercial mission.

"We may have a much better probability of getting to the stage in time and recovering it," Musk added. "We'll get much bigger boats next time."

A booster rocket recovered from water would take two months to refurbish for reuse. If SpaceX can re-land the rocket on land (likely at a NASA space center), it can, Musk contended, be used the next day.

The question of whether or not SpaceX successfully recovered the reusable rocket on its maiden flight was tracked closely by space watchers — and especially Musk, who, in a series of tweets following the successful Falcon 9 SpaceX launch, detailed his company's efforts to retrieve the rocket: It would have plummeted back to Earth, sprouting legs and reigniting the rocket shortly before hitting the water. This operation would have preserved the rocket for reuse.

Musk said SpaceX has been working for 12 years on the project, and now they finally did it: "Now we just have to bring it back home in one piece."

During the press conference, Musk also reveled that it's bringing suit against the U.S. government to change a rule that blocks private space companies such SpaceX from competing for National Security launches like sending GPS satellites into orbit.

"This is not SpaceX protesting and saying these launches should be awarded to us. We're saying these launches should be competed," said Musk, adding that it's "in the best interest of the America public."

Earlier this week, SpaceX demonstrated the Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) rock re-entry and landing capability in a brief video shot entirely by a drone. You can see the video below.

Topics: Falcon 9, NASA, Space, SpaceX, SpaceX Dragon, US & World