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Watching the success stories out of SpaceX over the past few months has been a sight. With several recent successful launches to the International Space Station and another planned for July 16th, Elon Musk’s venture into space travel is already looking to the horizon; their first manned mission to Mars is already being touted for 2025.
Today, SpaceX decided to give the Falcon 9 some love on its Instagram, posting four of them on their downtime. Rockets: They’re just like us!
The Falcon 9 rocket is the vehicle that brings Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)’s Dragon spacecraft into space. SpaceX regularly uses the Falcon 9 to bring its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Dragon made the first private spacecraft visit ever there in October 2012.
SpaceX views Falcon 9 as a stepping-stone to an even heavier-lift rocket, called the Falcon Heavy. Still under development and expected for a test launch in 2016, this rocket is expected to send up to 117,000 lbs. (53,000 kilograms) of cargo into space. This is about twice the weight the space shuttle used to be able to bring into space.
Starting in 2013, SpaceX made some flights of the Falcon 9 using a first stage that it says could be reusable, providing it lands in the right way. The company has achieved soft landings in the ocean and also on land. On April 8, 2016, a Dragon rocket booster landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the fifth attempt in 15 months.
Agencies/Canadajournal
