There’s a reason why Elon Musk has become one of the most influential people in the
world today- he thinks big.
With launches happening after every other day, his vision with SpaceX is pretty clear.
SpaceX has had a series of successful landings.
What are these?
And what impact do they have on the future of space travel?
Keep watching to find out!
SpaceX is up for another launch.
Certainly, this is one of the statements you must have heard quite often.
Whenever there is an announcement of any such launches, people recall or connect Musk’s
name with it.
This is another awesome video that will reveal some of the amazing landings by SpaceX aircraft.
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable SpaceX lift launch vehicle manufactured in the United
States.
Certainly, its launch kicked off the first-ever human flight in a commercial spacecraft.
On April 8, 2016, SpaceX rewrote the rules for the era.
The Falcon 9 rocket landed on a boat.
We know that this may seem impossible to believe, but the details will surprise you.
No one was prepared for the experience of watching a skinny, black-and-white colored
rocket fall out of the sky against the azure backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean and land on
a small drone-like ship.
The landing of Falcon 9 washed away people's concerns towards SpaceX, keeping the history
of Apollo in mind.
Landing the Falcon 9 seemed like a legendary moment.
Landing at the first stage at sea denoted an even major step towards reducing the cost
of getting people and payloads into space, unlocking a bright spacefaring future.
About a decade ago, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin stated a concept of landing a rocket on the
barge of the sea.
But there is a crucial difference between saying and doing things, and Elon Musk made
it come true.
By all means, SpaceX is not just a company with ambition, with the aim of doing things
in space.
Rather, it is determined to make revolutionize space technology.
Also during the launch, the economics required landing downrange of a launch site.
This is because during the launching process the rocket tends to change its path from a
vertical to horizontal orientation.
The launch of Falcon 9 is pretty much iconic and the most remembered landing among all
the SpaceX rockets!
Another great SpaceX spacecraft that had a pretty much amazing landing is,
Starship SN-15
In 2021, SpaceX's Starship SN15 safely landed after its high altitude test and executed
a successful landing while performing a landing- maneuver to softly land on a nearby pad.
You must be thinking, “What's so great about it?”
Well, the last prototype of Starship which came near to being a successfully landed spacecraft
was Starship SN-10.
Certainly, luck wasn't in the favor of this Starship SN-10 and it ended up landing slightly
too hard.
This was because of the ingestion issue in the engines which ended up exploding the spacecraft
in about 10 minutes.
Now, you might be able to imagine why the landing for this spacecraft is special.
This is because Starship SN 15 is one of its own prototypes that was able to achieve a
pretty good landing.
Also, when SN 15 landed, a small fire began spreading underneath it.
This increased tension among people but somehow SpaceX was able to extinguish the flames.
Well, it is still unclear whether Starship SN-15 will fly again or not but one thing
is sure that by all means, SpaceX tends to do the best it can and which is why the SN-15
landing proved to be a great success.
Following these, there are other SpaceX spacecraft launched that you should definitely know about,
SpaceX Dragon
SpaceX had once put its dragon capsule through a full test flight.
After staying in space for 200 days, the International Space Station, astronauts from NASA, France,
and Japan splashed down a landing in the Gulf of Mexico.
This denoted the completion of SpaceX's second-longest duration mission and , the view for the landing
was amazing.
Also, the four astronauts included Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA, Thomas Pesquet
of the European Space Agency (ESA), and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency.
Not only did the landing seem stunning but also the mission included the fact in which
the astronaut walked through spacewalks to help upgrade the space station.
Alongside there was also the installation of two new solar arrays, as well as working
on hundreds of research investigations.
Also for a fact when the Crew 2 astronauts were returning back during the landing, they
were unable to use the toilet due to a urine leak which was found in an inspection.
This little chaos caused the astronauts to use the undergarments as a backup.
This turned out to be a successful landing as the SpaceX Dragon made it back to earth.
When it landed, two boats rushed out to the capsule while they waited for their ship to
pick up the dragon.
It took about 30 hours for the ship to reach it.
Also in case of any injury to the astronauts, a helipad was available to the hospital.
The ship was specially designed for the safe landing and further transportation of the
SpaceX Dragon.
After a medical checkup, Kimbrough, McArthur, and Hoshide flew back to Houston, while Pesquet
was transported back to Europe.
The next amazing SpaceX spacecraft landing which you should know about is,
Thaicom 8
On May 27, a Thai satellite of the Thaicom series was placed on the commercial telecommunications
satellite into geostationary transfer orbit through the Falcon 9.
This satellite was none other than Thaicom 8.
The Satellite's builder orbital ATK along with SpaceX confirmed Thaicom-8’s successful
separation in orbit.
It was operated from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Well, the landing of Thaicom seemed considerably great as the vehicle’s first stage returned
to a successful landing on an offshore drone ship.
Thaicom 8, which weighs about 3,100 kilograms at launch, is a GEOStar-2 spacecraft.
California-based SpaceX has pretty much struggled to keep to its launch schedules.
Especially after the 2015 launch failure, the company shut down operations for about
six months.
Also, the launch of Thaicom-8 occurred within the launch window that Thaicom and SpaceX
had set in May 2014.
So you can further speculate the fact that the launch of Thaicom-8 went through certain
obstructions.
Well, it is a great satellite and this is what makes Thaicom the third commercial geostationary
satellite operator to return to SpaceX.
Certainly, Thaicom-8 is one of the major satellites alongside its launch and landing are known
as some of the major marks.
Also, SpaceX's customers are majorly concerned about getting their satellites into service
on time.
But SpaceX stated that certain changes regarding the major modification to its Falcon or the
v.2 or Full Thrust version show a pathway that the company is free to focus on increasing
its launch cadence.
Another, SpaceX satellite that is known to have an amazing landing is,
SpaceX's SN10 Starship
SpaceX's latest prototype went on a blaze of glory.
The Starship SN-10 spacecraft touched down back to earth after a high-altitude test flight.
This seemed like a major milestone for the company.
Also, it looked as if SpaceX's SN10 Starship wasn't able to hold itself together and ended
up exploding about 8 minutes later.
SpaceX's SN10 Starship is a big stainless steel SN 10 launched from SpaceX which has
a location in South Texas.
It rose about 6.2 miles into the sky and further returned back to earth for a smooth touchdown
6 minutes and 20 seconds after liftoff.
This was the third high flight altitude test for SpaceX's SN10 Starship vehicle.
Certainly, it can be concluded that the lucks were in quite favor of SpaceX's SN10 Starship
while it's landing.
This is because the predecessors of SpaceX's SN10 Starship SN8 and SN9 flew well during
their mission but it seemed as if the landing wasn't in favor and further both the Starship
rockets hit the ground and further ended up in pieces.
But this isn't all of the stories.
While it was landing some flames were visible near the base of SN 10 after it landed shortly.
The landing of SN 10 is quite amazing and by all means, it can be concluded that SN
10 is one of the Starships with the best of all landings.
Certainly, SpaceX is consistently developing some major Starships.
All this to get play loads to the moon, Mars, and other far distances which other companies
desire to gain.
By all means, Elon Musk strives at being the best of all which is why he has been making
some major consistent efforts in the Space arena.
Also, SpaceX is iterating towards the final Starship spacecraft using a series or multiple
gradually increasing prototypes.
No matter what, we are looking forward to SpaceX's launch of many more test flights.
What we do know is that 2022 will surely serve as a great year for SpaceX, and of course,
for Elon Musk, too.
By all means, Musk knows how to make greater advances in technology and we are all looking
forward to it.
Be sure to check out your favorite SpaceX video here.