Falcon 9 succeeds in middle-of-the-night launch and landing – Spaceflight Now
▻http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/06/falcon-9-succeeds-in-middle-of-the-night-launch
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks due east from Cape Canaveral after lifting off at 1:21 a.m. EDT (0521 GMT).
Credit: #SpaceX
A Japanese communications rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Cape Canaveral early Friday, reaching an on-target orbit as the launcher’s first stage booster nailed a high-speed landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, logging another achievement for SpaceX’s cost-cutting reuse initiative.
The successful satellite deployment marks the Falcon 9’s fifth consecutive flawless flight in less than five months, and the rocket’s 24th mission overall.
The rocket achieved its primary and secondary objective on Friday’s launch, placing the JCSAT 14 communications satellite into orbit, and returning its booster stage to a purely experimental landing on a specially-outfitted ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean.