Elon Musk has officially confirmed the successful splashdown of the first stage of Falcon-9

Founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk at today's press conference in Washington, официально confirmed , that the first stage of the launch vehicle Falcon-9 successfully made a soft landing in the Atlantic Ocean after start the truck to Dragon ISS, 18 April. Although because of the storm search team was unable to find the time and lift the rocket out of the water, and it was destroyed by the waves, telemetry data clearly indicate that the rocket splashed down in a vertical position at a predetermined speed with fully extended outriggers. Reusing the first stage - the most expensive part of the rocket - will reduce the cost of space launches by 70%.

Now SpaceX builds several start (and in the near future and landing) sites in Texas and Florida. In addition, the company decided to seek from the Air Force review of US five-year contract on launching military satellites, which are entered into a joint venture with Boeing and Lockheed Martin United Launch Alliance (ULA). Musk believes that the multi-billion dollar contract unprofitable US - one run by the ULA now costs an average of $ 380 million, while SpaceX promises to display the same goods on the same orbit on average 100 million. In addition, the rocket Atlas-5, which uses the ULA, established Russian engines RD-180, that in today's political environment is unacceptable for America, says Musk.


Test takeoff and landing Falcon-9 i>

Musk has been fighting the monopoly Boeing and Lockheed Martin More from 2005. After a successful soft landing tests and is now a very real prospect of a revolutionary cheaper launches, SpaceX has decided to act in this direction aggressive - Musk today announced that his company подаст lawsuit against the US Air Force in federal court. He stresses that his company will not seek exclusive rights to run, but only wants to free competition in this area.



Source: habrahabr.ru/post/220919/