Author: Mike Wall / Source: Space.com
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that just launched an Israeli moon lander will make some more history soon, if all goes according to plan.
The Thursday night (Feb. 21) liftoff of the Beresheet lunar lander — which in April will try to become the first privately funded craft to touch down on the moon — and two other satellites was the third spaceflight for this particular Falcon 9’s first stage.
The booster came back to Earth for yet another landing Thursday and will be prepped for a fourth mission, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said.“Highest re-entry heating to date. Burning metal sparks from base heat shield visible in landing video. Fourth relight scheduled for April,”
Related: Launch Photos: SpaceX Lofts Israeli Moon Lander, Satellites
Highest reentry heating to date. Burning metal sparks from base heat shield visible in landing video. Fourth relight scheduled for April. https://t.co/uq6TdMhgFN
In subsequent tweets, Musk clarified that “fourth relight” meant the fourth launch for this particular booster. That will be a first; no Falcon 9 first stage has yet flown more than three times. (The upper stage of the two-stage Falcon 9 is not reusable.)
The April mission in question is the high-altitude abort test for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which the company is developing to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Crew Dragon is scheduled to fly for the first time on March 2, when it will launch on an uncrewed test…
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