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SpaceX successfully sends package up to International Space Station – and then lands rocket that carried it on Earth

The reusable rockets could be the future of space travel

Andrew Griffin
Monday 18 July 2016 11:48 BST
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SpaceX launches rocket to ISS

SpaceX successfully has managed to send a docking port up into space – and bring the rocket that helped it get there back down to Earth.

The company has had a tough time over the last year or so, since its first attempt to get the docking port up into space landed in failure when a rocket blew up.

But managing to successfully get the equipment into space, and bring the first-stage booster back down to Cape Canaveral, will mark a major step towards space travel of the future.

The safe landing marked the second time that SpaceX has managed to land a booster using a vertical touchdown – a trick that the company has tried, and failed, repeatedly. It hopes to eventually be able to land the rockets with ease, helping it recycle the boosters and so bring far more renewable and cheap space travel.

"A really good day," observed Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of flight reliability for SpaceX.

That all happened while the unmanned Falcon rocket flew up through the darkness, taking with it 5,000 pounds of food, experiments and equipment that will be dropped off at the International Space Station.

Managing to get that docking port up to Nasa marks a major step for SpaceX, and helps reassure the company after an accident last year that saw it blow up over the Atlantic and bring a temporary end to such missions.

NASA needs this new docking setup at the space station before Americans can fly there in crew capsules set to debut next year. SpaceX is building astronaut-worthy versions of its Dragon cargo ships, while Boeing — which makes these docking ports — is working on a crew capsule called Starliner. The pair would dock to this ring and another due to fly in a year.

The rocket will arrive at the International Space Station with its replacement shipment on Wednesday.

Peake would return to space

NASA's space station program manager Kirk Shireman expected to be "sweating bullets without a doubt" at liftoff, as always. He said all the cargo is precious, but really wants this docking port "up there safe and sound."

Together the two missions could help SpaceX shape the future of American space travel.

Since NASA retired its fleet of space shuttles five years ago, the United States has depended on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the station, at a cost of more than $70 million per person.

Successfully launching such missions – and having the important parts manage to land back down again, ready for re-use – could dramatically reduce the US’s reliance on Russian equipment and the cost of sending up missions to space.

With Monday's touchdown, SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon rockets on the ground twice and on an ocean platform during three of its last four attempts.

SpaceX intends to launch one of its recovered rockets as early as this autumn, said Hans Koenigsmann, the firm's vice president for mission assurance.

Additional reporting by agencies

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