3 Reasons Why SpaceX Rocket Launch is Historic

On Monday Night at SpaceX Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 8.29 p.m. local time, the upgraded 23 storey tall rocket named Falcon 9 - on a mission to deliver 11-satellites to low-Earth orbit - has been dispatched. After 10 minutes, the entire Complex 40 broke out in celebration chanting 'USA! USA!', guess what? a history has been created. The unmanned vehicle reached the landing site about 9.65km (6 miles) south of launch pad successfully, completing it's mission.

The space exploration company does what seems to be a distant possibility, making it a kind that famous Steve Job quote defines, "the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

These are the some reasons we believe makes SpaceX launch a historic one.

1. First of it's Kind

In 2010, SpaceX became the first company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and return it safely to Earth. And on Monday, first time a rocket has launched a payload into space and returned. It also becomes the first unmanned rocket of this size to returned to land vertically on earth.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Landing Visuals

To achieve this feat, the Falcon 9 design chilled to minus 340 degrees Fahrenheit, about 40 degrees colder than earlier flights, and the kerosene fuel was cooled to 20 degrees instead of 70 degrees, making it first of it's kind.

2. A Non-Government Company Achieving Feat

Founded by a former Pay Pal founder and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX is the first privately funded company to reach orbit successfully - at the cost of $16 million, marking the beginning of a grander vision to look out to explore space as the potential outlet for survival.

The company hope to revive the rocket industry, which up until now lost millions of dollars in discarded machinery and valuable rocket parts. Earlier in June, Falcon-9 broke apart in flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, which was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). The company has  a $1.6 bn contract with NASA to send supplies to ISS.

In May 2015, the United States Air Force certified SpaceX Falcon 9 for launching "national security space missions."

3. Reusability - A step towards affordable mission Mars

The idea behind the inception of SpaceX is to create technologies to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars. In view of that, both their designs, Falcon-1 and Falcon-9 are reusable.

In a statement in June, Musk said " If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred. A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before," he further adds, " That really is a fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space."

"I think this is a critical step along the way towards being able to establish a city on Mars," said ElonMusk said on a call with reporters on launch night.

The landing is huge victory for Musk and his team, as the company has been sidelined for unsuccessful attempt previously in June.

Let us know your thoughts about this feat in comments. We would love to hear them.

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Gif credits to Engadget.com

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An Electronics Engineer by education, a part-time blogger by passion. He loves everything about technology, hence he writes about it. Interest includes Technology, Startups and Mobile Applications.