So I've seen a couple launches in person before, but I've never gotten to visit the rocket
before it went up so...
It is crazy to think that just in a couple of hours this place is going to be filled
with... a lot of flames.
. We’re here at Cape Canaveral Florida, home
of Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center.
We’ve come to see SpaceX launch one of its Falcon 9 rockets.
But, I’ll be honest, I came here to watch it land.
We all know the story, SpaceX has been trying to land its rockets after launching them into
space to save on manufacturing costs, they’ve had some explosive misses and some overwhelming
success.
And I’ve followed all of these but only thru a tiny computer screen, so I thought
it was time to see one with my own two eyes.
We traveled all the way from New York to Florida for SpaceX CRS-9.
That was the company's 9th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
But before we saw the launch and landing we paid a quick visit to the rocket.
On top of this rocket is SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule.
It’s filled with nearly 5,000 pounds of goodies and science experiments that need
to get to the International Space Station.
That includes the first DNA sequencer to be used in space and a shiny new international
docking adapter.
That adapter will be added to the outside of the station, allowing future private spacecraft
to automatically dock with the ISS.
Eventually, SpaceX’s own vehicles will be using that adapter.
They are ushering us out, but we'll be seeing the rocket later.
Radio: All stations one minute to launch.
Loren: Oh my gosh!
Radio: VC and DC on countdown, verify, F9 and Dragon are in startup.
Falcon 9's in startup.
Dragon is in startup.
T-minus.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Liftoff!
[Rocket launch noises]
Falcon 9 has cleared the towers.
Loren [laughs]: Alright
Stage separation.
Loren: separation!
It is coming back, you can see it!
Oh my God!
Here it comes.
Ahhh, oh my goodness.
Oh my god.
Radio: Stage 1 entry burn is started.
Loren: It looks, oh my god, it looks like it is right ahead of us.
Oh it just turned off.
Radio: Stage 1 entry burn is shut down.
Loren: Next burn will be to land it.
Radio: Stage 1 is transonic.
Stage 1 landing burn is started.
Loren: Here we go, here we go!
Radio: Landing legs have deployed.
Loren: Oh my God, oh my God!
[Sonic Boom]
[Loren laughs]
Radio: LZ1 Falcon 9 has landed.
Landing operators move into procedure 11 dot 100 recovery in LZ1.
Loren: Oh my god.
Loren VO: That huge noise came from a bunch of sonic booms.
The Falcon 9 enters the Earth’s atmosphere going faster than the speed of sound, creating
shock waves we don’t hear until the rocket reaches the ground.
Loren: Oh my god, that shook me.
I've never seen anything like that.
That is cool.
That is something everybodies gotta see.
As a space reporter I write about space flight everyday, but there’s something fundamentally
different about seeing one of these events in person.
I still can’t seem to put into words what it was like to see that rocket land and then
to feel the sonic boom go right through me.
It was so intense even locals in the area reported it to 911.
But as cool as it all was, SpaceX hopes these landings become just as routine as the launches
themselves.
After it was all over, Hans Koenigsmann one of the VPs for SpaceX said this:
But for now, it's still really awesome.