SpaceX makes first US military launch, then lands rocket again
Source: News24
LAST UPDATED: 2017-05-02, 18:58
SpaceX makes first US military launch, then lands rocket again
2017-05-02 10:17
Miami - SpaceX on Monday blasted off a secretive US government satellite, known only as NROL-76, marking the first military launch for the California-based aerospace company headed by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk.
The payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which makes and operates spy satellites for the United States, soared into the sky atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 07:15 (11:15 GMT).
About 10 minutes after launch, the scorched first stage of the rocket came back to Earth and landed upright at Cape Canaveral, marking the fourth successful solid ground landing for SpaceX.
"And we have touchdown," a SpaceX commentator said on a live webcast as cheers broke out at mission control.
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The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre. (John Raoux, AP)[/font]