For SpaceX, another launch succeeds, but its booster-landing streak ends
JUN 16, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029901
The Verge : On Wednesday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying two satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. As with its other Falcon 9 launches, the company attempted to return the first-stage booster to Earth by landing it on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. But unlike the previous four landings, this one was unsuccessful. The live video stream from the drone ship was interrupted during the landing, so the result wasn’t known for some time. After an initial report of failure, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the first stage suffered a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” due to low thrust in one of the three engines needed for landing.
© 2016 American Institute of Physics
