Newsdeck

Newsdeck

SpaceX NASA Launch Is Successful Despite Rocket’s Water Landing

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched a rocket carrying more than 5,600 pounds of crew supplies, science investigations and spacewalk equipment Wednesday as part of its longstanding contract with NASA to ferry cargo to the International Space Station.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:16 p.m. local time. The payload in the Dragon capsule includes technology to test robotic spacecraft refueling and to map the world’s forests, along with two student experiments inspired by Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” series, according to NASA.

The rocket’s first stage went into the water instead of touching down on land. Musk tweeted about the problem:

Dragon is slated to rendezvous with the orbiting lab early Saturday and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California in January, according to NASA.

Wednesday’s mission, known as CRS-16, marks SpaceX’s 20th launch of the year, up from a record 18 in 2017. The company has been able to cut costs and win market share by designing its rockets and spacecraft for reusability. The Dragon capsule last flew to the space station in February 2017.

Successful Missions

The Hawthorne, California-based company’s valuation has climbed to about $28 billion as it has racked up successful missions, making it the third-most valuable venture-backed startup in the U.S. after Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc.

SpaceX has a contract to ferry American astronauts to the space station as part of what’s known as the Commercial Crew program with NASA, but the timeline for the first flights has slipped repeatedly. The agency’s current schedule has SpaceX’s first uncrewed demonstration flight on January 7 and the first flight with astronauts on board in June. DM

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.