For the second time ever, Elon Musk's SpaceX has landed one of its Falcon 9 rocket boosters back on land after launching a payload into orbit.
The Falcon 9 took flight at 12:45 a.m. ET Monday carrying an uncrewed Dragon capsule filled with thousands of pounds of supplies and experiments toward the International Space Station for NASA.
The contents will help to support over 250 scientific experiments due to take place aboard the ISS, and contains a number of interesting articles, most intriguingly of all a DNA sequencer.
Astronaut DNA is usually sequenced back on Earth, which takes months, so being able to do so from the comfort of their own space station is an interesting development. The custom built Biomolecule Sequencer is designed to demonstrate that “DNA sequencing is feasible in an orbiting spacecraft,” and will identify microbes, diagnose diseases and understand crew member health.
It could also “potentially help detect DNA-based life elsewhere in the solar system,” according to NASA.
That’s not all that’s on board. As CNET points out , astronauts will also sign for a Phase Change Heat Exchanger and three dimensional solar cell.
Shortly after launch, the first stage of the rocket, known as the booster, separated and softly touched down on a pad in Florida as part of a spectacular nighttime landing.
This is the second booster SpaceX has brought back to land and the fifth the company has recovered after launching a payload into orbit.
Landing pad landings are somewhat easier than landing on a drone ship, because it's an easier target to hit. It does require more fuel for success, however, meaning that for missions that burn a lot of fuel, landing on a drone ship in the sea will be necessary.
SpaceX is performing rocket landings with the goal of eventually reducing the cost of launching to space by reusing rocket bodies for multiple spaceflights.
Currently, rockets are spent after launching one payload to space, but if reusable boosters become a reality, companies that hope to get their wares to space will only need to pay for the cost of the spacecraft and the fuel for launch.
The company is expected to re-fly its first landed rocket sometime in September or October, but the actual mission it will launch hasn't yet been decided, according to SpaceX.