MIAMI, (MILLAT ONLINE/APP/AFP) – SpaceX is poised to launch
its first recycled rocket on Thursday, using a booster that sent food and supplies to the astronauts living at the International Space Station in April.
The goal of the launch, scheduled for 6:27 pm (2227 GMT) from Cape
Canaveral, Florida, is to send a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based company SES into a distant orbit.
Standing tall at the NASA launchpad, the white Falcon 9 rocket contains a tall, column-like portion known as the first stage, or booster, that propelled the unmanned Dragon cargo ship to space last year, then returned to an upright landing on an ocean platform.
SpaceX, the California-based company headed by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, has for years been honing the technology of powering its boosters back to careful Earth landings on solid ground and in the water.
So far it has successfully landed eight — five on so-called “drone ships” floating in the ocean, and three on land.
The goal, Musk has said, is to make rocket parts just as reusable as cars, planes or bicycles.
Currently, millions of dollars worth of rocket parts are jettisoned after each launch.
SpaceX officials have said that reusing hardware could slash costs — with each Falcon 9 launch costing over $61 million — by about 30 percent.
While generating plenty of buzz, the novel process still raises concerns for both customers and SpaceX.