December 21 at 20:29 local time (at 04:29 Moscow time), the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket took off into space, separated from the second stage, and then carried on by a return back to the landing site in Florida at Cape Canaveral 10 kilometers from the launch pad.
Despite the fact that the main task of the mission with which the company has successfully managed, was the delivery of eleven satellites in orbit and landing of the first stage of the rocket - a minor task. In essence, this event is much more significant, because it opens a new milestone in the space industry - the beginning of the orbital of the economy, the future is extremely promising cheap spaceflight.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that to build the Falcon 9 rocket cost his company $ 60 million. Fuel costs only $ 200 000. Thus, it can reduce the cost of space flight 10 or even 100 times.
The launch was carried out under cloudy conditions with wind of 16 kilometers per hour. A minute after the start of the rocket reached the point of maximum stress, the separation of the first stage was still four seconds. The second stage engine shutdown occurred at the tenth minute of the flight, and in the fifteenth minute of the first satellites were deployed in orbit.
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