Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on April 8 successfully launched its Falcon 9 and, for the first time, landed the rocket’s first stage.
The company’s NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services-8 (CRS-8) mission to the International Space Station lifted off at 4:45 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. About 13 minutes after launch, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 first stage on its floating droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. The rocket landed gently and remained upright.
The Dragon spacecraft on top of the Falcon 9 contained roughly 7,000 pounds of critical supplies and payloads for the ISS crew. It included Bigelow’s Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) that will attach to ISS and demonstrate expandable in-space habitat technology. CRS-8 is the eighth of up to 20 missions to ISS that SpaceX will fly for NASA under the CRS contract. In January, NASA announced SpaceX will resupply ISS through 2024 as part of CRS-2.
April 8 was SpaceX’s first CRS mission since the 2015 summer launch failure.