SpaceX launched a top-secret spy satellite for the US government and then successfully landed the booster for recycling.
The 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, with the rocket’s first stage (which contains all the main engines) returning to Earth nine minutes later.
This is the aerospace manufacturer’s first mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
SpaceX’s webcast only showed footage of the launch until the second stage of the rocket separated from the first, because of the classified nature of the NRO satellite mission.
The leftover booster landed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Landing Zone 1.
With rockets costing up to $62 million per flight (£47m), SpaceX aims to reuse its boosters. The company’s first recycled rocket flew last month.
This was the fourth SpaceX booster landing at Cape Canaveral, in addition to six landings on ocean platforms.
CEO Elon Musk said the upper-level wind at lift-off was “unusually high” but added the “launch and landing of the NRO spy satellite was good”.
Winds aloft are unusually high (still within structural safety bounds). Worrying, but not a showstopper. https://t.co/epHQQvajOZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2017
Launch and landing of the NRO spy satellite was good. Tough call, as high altitude wind shear was at 98.6% of the theoretical load limit. pic.twitter.com/nBzBMNdjBp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2017
The launch was scheduled to take place on Sunday, but lift-off was cancelled at the last minute by a bad sensor.
