SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its rocket on a drone ship off the coast of a Bahamian island on Tuesday, marking the company's “first international landing of a first stage rocket.”
The Starlink satellites launched at 6:21 p.m. ET from the US Navy's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, placing a new batch of 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
“Launch!” SpaceX announced in a post on X, along with video of Tuesday's launch.
About eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage of the SpaceX rocket returned to Earth and landed on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship, drawing loud applause from mission control. This time, the drone ship was not in the open Atlantic Ocean, but off the coast of Exuma Island in the Bahamas.
“Falcon 9 lands for the first time in the Bahamas! Welcome to space,” SpaceX wrote in a post on X immediately after the successful landing of the rocket's first stage on Tuesday evening.
“We are pleased to continue collaborating with the Government of the Bahamas on this mutually beneficial partnership and look forward to more Falcon drone landings in the Bahamas,” said Zachary Lappen, avionics supply chain engineer at SpaceX.
Earlier on Tuesday, SpaceX warned that “residents and visitors to the Bahamas may experience one or more sonic booms during landing.”
Tuesday's launch marked the 16th flight of the booster's first stage, which has been used on nine previous Starlink launches.
SpaceX's ability to reuse first stage boosters has allowed the company to significantly increase the speed of its space missions and reduce costs compared to past NASA launches using expendable first stage boosters.
Sourse: www.upi.com
