SpaceX Bags Its Second Falcon 9 Ground Landing

Elon Musk's SpaceX seems to finally be getting its rocket landings down to a "T". Although not its second, not even its second, successful rocket landing, this latest accomplishment is no less commendable. What makes it different is actually what makes it similar to SpaceX historic first landing. The Falcon 9 rocket that just launched a Dragon capsule into orbit is the company's second rocket to have successfully come back down to earth in one piece landing on solid ground instead of a remote, floating, and moving barge on water.

So now SpaceX has more than one successful landing on both earth and sea, and the two have their own pros and cons. While hitting a moving target like a drone barge is more slightly difficult in terms of trajectory, it is, in the end, more efficient when it comes to fuel. The factors are reversed when it comes to ground landings. That's because rockets don't launch in a straight line upward but follow a curved path. To land back to earth, especially on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, the rocket has to spend more fuel maneuvering towards the target. That is why, for fuel efficiency and cutting down costs, SpaceX prefers sea landings.

This time, however, SpaceX was confident that it would enough fuel for another try at a landing on the ground. It's a risky, not to mention expensive, test of their abilities, but it's required to really perfect this process for the sake of reusable rockets and making space travel more cost efficient. Luckily for SpaceX, there were no mishaps for this mission.

That also goes the same for the second stage of the rocket, which detached from the Dragon capsule without incident. The capsule will then remain in orbit for around two days before it finally docks with the International Space Station, bringing much needed supplies and experiments.