SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shows up SpaceX hard-work.
The unprecedented feat caps years of work by Elon Musk’s space company and follows a successful ground landing of a returning Falcon rocket in December. Four previous attempts to land the rocket’s first stage on the ocean platform had failed. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared off its seaside launch pad in Florida on Friday, then turned around a minutes later and settled itself on a platform floating in the ocean. “We have a Falcon 9 aboard,” a crewman aboard the recovery ship radioed to SpaceX Mission Control. A live video of the landing, broadcast on NASA TV, showed the Falcon first-stage descending vertically through clear skies then slowing, with its four landing legs extended, and gently settling itself down on the platform. A minute later, the Dragon cargo ship that the rocket had boosted toward space separated from the Falcon’s upper stage and began a 2.5 day trip to the International Space Station. SpaceX has said being able to land its rockets on the ...