SpaceX launches Dragon to ISS
SpaceX successfully launched a reused Dragon capsule into orbit yesterday, once again using a reused first stage.
To show you how routine this has become, I myself completely forgot the launch was happening yesterday, and spent that time doing my monthly bills. Oy.
They did not attempt to recover the first stage, using it instead to do re-entry flight tests as it landed in the Atlantic Ocean. I suspect they have decided that it is not cost effective to recover used first stages, and would rather dump them in the ocean than pay the cost to recover, test, and store them.
The leaders in the 2018 launch standings:
10 China
7 SpaceX
4 Russia
3 Japan
3 ULA
China and the U.S. continue to be tied in the national standings.
SpaceX successfully launched a reused Dragon capsule into orbit yesterday, once again using a reused first stage.
To show you how routine this has become, I myself completely forgot the launch was happening yesterday, and spent that time doing my monthly bills. Oy.
They did not attempt to recover the first stage, using it instead to do re-entry flight tests as it landed in the Atlantic Ocean. I suspect they have decided that it is not cost effective to recover used first stages, and would rather dump them in the ocean than pay the cost to recover, test, and store them.
The leaders in the 2018 launch standings:
10 China
7 SpaceX
4 Russia
3 Japan
3 ULA
China and the U.S. continue to be tied in the national standings.