A spectacular new SpaceX video
shows the company's Falcon 9 Reusable rocket (Falcon 9R for short)
soaring to 3,300 feet (1,000 meters), about four times as high as the
rocket went during its first flight test last month.
The stunning footage,
which was released on Friday, was captured by a flying drone, providing a
bird's-eye view of the action. The video shows the Falcon 9R
taking off from SpaceX's rocket-development facility in McGregor,
Texas, scaring some nearby cows and then touching down as planned back
at the pad about two minutes after launch.
During the May 1 test flight, the
Falcon 9R took off with its landing legs extended. In future tests of
the rocket, the legs will lie against the side of the rocket initially,
then deploy in time for landing, SpaceX representatives have said.
SpaceX is developing reusable rockets
in an attempt to dramatically reduce the costs of launching satellites
and people into space. Fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicles could
make spaceflight 100 times cheaper, company founder and CEO Elon Musk
has said.
Such rockets could
therefore help make a Mars colony much more feasible — a big priority
for Musk, who has said that he started SpaceX primarily to make humanity
a multiplanet species.
The F9R is very close in design to
the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX already uses to launch its unmanned
Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. The Falcon
9's first stage is fueled by oxygen and kerosene and has nine Merlin
rocket engines.
SpaceX has been
ramping up its reusable-rocket tests lately. During the latest Dragon
resupply launch, which took place on April 18, the company succeeded in
bringing the Falcon 9's first stage back to Earth for a soft ocean
splashdown, a world first. SpaceX also completed tests of its
Grasshopper reusable-rocket program last year after a number of
successful flights.
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