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SpaceX conducts return-to-flight launch, attempts rocket landing on ground

Xinhua, December 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Private U.S. space firm SpaceX on Monday conducted its first rocket launch since a June failure that destroyed its cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

The California-based company's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at about 8:29p.m. EST (0129 GMT Tuesday) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, delivering 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit for the U.S. satellite communications company ORBCOMM.

But more attention may be on SpaceX's first attempt to land the rocket's first stage back at the launch site, although the company itself described the landing as "a secondary test objective."

Previously, SpaceX has tried several times to land its rocket booster on a drone ship in the ocean, but all attempts failed. The new landing mission is actually easier than the drone ship idea.

SpaceX is focusing on cheap space travel and rocket landing is one of the company's first steps aimed at building fully reusable rockets, which will drastically reduce the cost of spaceflight. Currently, rockets are built only for one-time use.

SpaceX's new landing attempt came about one month after Blue Origin, another private U.S. space firm started by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, successfully landed its New Shepard booster back at its launch site in western Texas. Endit