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April 9th, 2016 
Awake Goy
SpaceX: Falcon 9 First Stage Landing
April 8th, 2016
Via: CBS:
An upgraded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rocket boosted a Dragon cargo ship into orbit Friday, kicking off a two-day flight to the International Space Station to deliver 3.5 tons of cargo, including an innovative inflatable module that could pave the way to future deep space habitats and commercial space stations.
And in a notable first for the California rocket company, the booster’s first stage flew itself to a picture-perfect touchdown on an off-shore barge, whimsically named the “Of Course I Still Love You,” stationed about 185 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral.
Video from a company aircraft showed the 156-foot-tall stage descending vertically on the power of a single rocket engine and sticking the landing just a few feet from the center of the drone ship’s deck, stable on its splayed landing legs as the ship rocked in slightly choppy seas.
“‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ we have a Falcon 9 on board,” a SpaceX engineer triumphantly radioed about eight minutes and 35 seconds after launch.
It was the latest in a series of dramatic tests to perfect re-entry and landing techniques so spent rocket stages can be routinely recovered, refurbished and relaunched, a key element in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s drive to lower the cost of spaceflight.
More:
CRS-8 Dragon Technical Webcast
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