Amazing SpaceX Reusable Rocket Test Caught on Video

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A stunning new video shows the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9
rocket making a soft ocean splashdown as planned after its launch
earlier this month.

The
spectacular new SpaceX video, which the company released
today (July 22), reveals the rocket stage returning to Earth in a
controlled fashion after helping launch six commercial satellites
from Florida on July 14. Many key moments are plainly visible,
including the deployment of the stage's landing legs and its
submersion in the Atlantic Ocean.

"This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able
consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity,
restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at
near zero velocity," SpaceX representatives
wrote in an update today about the video, which was recorded
by the stage's onboard camera.

"After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its
final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position," they
added. "The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we
received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing
on a future flight."

Developing fully and rapidly reusable rockets is a key priority
for California-based SpaceX and Elon Musk, the company's
billionaire founder and CEO. Musk has said reusable launch
systems could slash the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100,
potentially making
Mars colonies and other lofty goals economically feasible.

The company has therefore put a lot of time and effort into
testing reusable rockets. Over the past few years, for example,
SpaceX conducted increasingly complicated flights of its
prototype Grasshopper rocket from a facility in Texas. And the
company has now attempted three first-stage returns during Falcon
9 launches.

The first of these Falcon 9 attempts, which came in September
2013, was a partial success. Engineers managed to re-light the
first stage's engines twice, but it ultimately hit the water
hard. The second test, which occurred in April of this year
during the launch of SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule to the
International Space Station for NASA, was a substantial
improvement; the Falcon 9 stage made a soft landing, though rough
seas broke it apart before a recovery boat could get to the site,
SpaceX representatives said.

SpaceX will try another first-stage ocean splashdown on Flight 13
of the Falcon 9, company representatives said. That flight —
another cargo mission to the orbiting lab for NASA — is
currently scheduled for Sept. 12. The next two Falcon 9 missions
after that will feature attempts to bring the first stage down to
Earth softly on land.

"At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land
successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site
and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment," SpaceX
representatives wrote in today's update.