“Just Read the Instructions” success for SpaceX
August 25, 2017
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully landed its 1st stage rocket following the launch of Formosat-5, a science satellite, on August 24th.
The rocket’s powerful first stage was landed on SpaceX’s “Just Read the Instructions” floating barge, situated off the coast of southern California.
In what is fast becoming a routine event this was the 15th successful landing out of 40 launches, and the 9th to land on a barge.
This particular launch was the 12th this year so far, and the second flight in 10 days (the earlier flight in August was a cargo mission to the International Space Station).
The next launch is scheduled for early September when a SpaceX rocket will loft the US Air Force’s X37B spaceplane.
The next commercial satellite is likely to be the EchoStar 10/SES 11 so-called ‘condominium’ satellite.