{"id":19522,"date":"2015-12-21T17:30:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T09:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-returns-to-flight-with-falcon-9-rocket-launch-and-lands-in-florida\/"},"modified":"2015-12-21T17:30:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T09:30:29","slug":"spacex-returns-to-flight-with-falcon-9-rocket-launch-and-lands-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-returns-to-flight-with-falcon-9-rocket-launch-and-lands-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX returns to flight with Falcon 9 rocket launch \u2013 and lands in Florida!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fires its engines to descend to a touchdown at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Credit: SpaceX)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time in six months today, and then brought the first-stage booster back down for a first-ever Florida landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Falcon has landed!\u201d SpaceX\u2019s launch commentator announced.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of SpaceX employees cheered the touchdown at the company\u2019s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. \u201cUSA! USA! USA!\u201d they chanted.<\/p>\n

The flight\u2019s main objective was to send 11 satellites into low Earth orbit to boost Orbcom\u2019s OG2 network for machine-to-machine communications. The landing attempt was a bonus, aimed at furthering SpaceX\u2019s goal of bringing down the cost of spaceflight dramatically.<\/p>\n

Liftoff went off on time at 8:29 p.m. ET (5:29 p.m. PT). The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage and payload separated from the first stage a little more than two minutes later, at an altitude of about 60 miles (100 kilometers). While the second stage fired up its engine, the first stage relit its engines to guide itself back toward land. Another engine burn slowed down the descent from supersonic speed.<\/p>\n