After just three days from its last launch, SpaceX conducted another successful launch on October 11. During the last launch, the Elon Musk-led company sent its 12th Falcon 9 booster of 2017. The rocket took off on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at around 6:53 pm EDT, carrying an Airbus-built communications satellite for SES and EchoStar.
As per a report by Spaceflight Now, the successful launch placed the 5.7-tonne satellite into a "supersynchronous" orbit in space, which arcs thousands of miles above Earth. The satellite aims to provide television coverage and communication network to North America, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean. The mission is expected to last for at least 15 years.
The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage was previously launched on a cargo mission to the International Space Centre in February 2017. SpaceX successfully launched a recycled rocket component for the first time in March in a bid to make the rocket travels more affordable and cut down the cost of highly expensive rocket components.
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The latest Falcon 9 rocket launch marks the third time when the company has successfully launched and landed a rocket that had already flown. It was the "third successful mission with a flight-proven orbital class rocket," said SpaceX on Twitter.
About 10 minutes from the launch on Wednesday, the tall part of the Falcon 9 rocket, known as the first stage, returned back to Earth and made a controlled, upright landing on a drone ship, lovingly called "Of Course I Still Love You," by Elon Musk, stationed in the Atlantic.
