The space exploration company owned by Elon Musk SpaceX conducted a mission on Friday in which the reusable Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida to deliver 7,000 pounds of supplies and an inflatable habitat experiment for astronauts on the international space station.
The rocket then successfully landed on a robotic barge floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean without any issues, wrote The Guardian.
It has taken five attempts for SpaceX to land its rocket on an autonomous barge floating in the ocean. Last month, one rocket had a predicted failed landing at sea due to the 11,000 pounds of cargo the ship was carrying, which lowered the amount of fuel the rocket needed to slow its decent to Earth. Other attempts failed due to different reasons.
Musk’s team has been able to land the rocket safely on a solid landing pad on earth, but ocean landings would be suitable for SpaceX missions since this platform would reduce fuel requirements needed for high-speed travel.
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Blue Origin, a rival enterprise owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, broke records last week, too, in bringing cheaper spaceflight one step closer to reality. The firm completed its third successful rocket landing at its facility in West Texas.
Watch SpaceX’s successful touchdown below.