Take Back the Sky

Photo: NASA

by Chris Tobias

Today was the kind of day that gets us excited about space travel.

SpaceX successfully launched their Falcon 9 rocket and deployed the Dragon capsule, which is currently on its way to the International Space Station with supplies, provisions, experiments and even an espresso machine!

And to top it all off, they darn near pulled off a historic landing and recovery of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket booster aboard their robot barge Just Read the Instructions.  The rocket hit the bullseye, but came in too hard for a that landing “like a downy feather” that SpaceX was hoping for.

Elon Musk himself put it this way:

And not one to shy away from transparency (or a little showmanship), he and SpaceX followed it up with these gems:

It was quite a thrill following the action online and waiting in anticipation of news of the booster landing.  It’s precisely the kind of thing that’s making space flight “cool” again, as is evidenced by the buzz about the launch that lasted on social media well into the evening.

There will be plenty of time to discuss today’s events in more detail in the days to come.  For now, though, we’d just like to congratulate SpaceX on one spectacular launch day.

And as the day draws to a close here on the East Coast, we’ll let Jayne Cobb himself, Adam Baldwin, sign us off as we go LOS for the night.

Peace, love and rockets…