Space X, the private rocket company became the first non-government company to successfully launch a rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the successful launch, the private company successfully brought their rocket booster back to a nearby location and safely landed it, allowing it to be reused and saving millions of dollars.
SpaceX has launched the first private rocket from the same historic site that saw some of NASA’s greatest space missions, then landed a booster nearby in a resounding success.
The California-based company’s Falcon 9 rocket launched a robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station today (Feb. 19) at 9:39 a.m. EST (1439 GMT) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center — the same pad that once hosted Apollo moon missions and space shuttle launches.
“Liftoff of the Falcon 9 to the space station on the first commercial launch from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Pad 39a!” said NASA commentator George Diller. [In Photos: SpaceX’s 1st Launch from NASA’s Historic Pad 39A]
A launch attempt on Saturday was scrubbed just 13 seconds before liftoff out of caution, due to an unexpected reading from the rocket’s second stage.
GET MORE STORIES LIKE THIS
IN YOUR INBOX!
Sign up for our daily email and get the stories everyone is talking about.
