SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral to despatch 11 communications satellites to complete a 17 satellite, low Earth orbit constellation for ORBCOMM, an M2M communications and IoT solutions company.
This array is said to be the first satellite network dedicated to providing reliable and cost-effective M2M communications to and from the most remote areas of the world.
The secondary test objective for the mission was the landing of the stage one rocket in an upright position at a landing site six miles from the launch pad. After reaching a height of 200km, the first stage used its boosters and thrusters to perform a flip and touch down safely 10 minutes after it had launched. The achievement has been hailed as milestone towards reusing rockets.
Musk has said the ability to return SpaceX’s rockets to Earth so they can be reused and reflown would hugely reduce his company's operational costs in the growing but highly competitive private space launch industry.
The launch is the first by SpaceX since one exploded in June. On that occasion an unmanned Falcon-9 broke apart in flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
The rocket, which had 18 successful flights prior to that one, was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has a $1.6bn contract with NASA to send supplies to the ISS.
SpaceX is aiming to revolutionise the rocket industry, which up until now has lost millions of dollars in discarded machinery and valuable rocket parts after each launch.
Commenting on the successful landing, Brig Gen Wayne Monteith, the top officer at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station said: "This was a first for us at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and I can't even begin to describe the joy the team feels right now having been a part of this historic first-stage rocket landing."
