SpaceX Just Transformed Space Flight, Launching Two Rockets in 48 Hours – Futurism

In Brief A historic weekend "doubleheader" for Elon Musk ended Sunday afternoon after SpaceX launched two payloads into space within 48 hours of each other. The initial launch was also a first for the country of Bulgaria, which launched a telecommunications satellite.

As of 5 p.m. EST, this story is developing.

Elon Musks SpaceX took ascheduling delay and turned it into a historic opportunity: as the result of postponing the launch of a Bulgarian satellite from Monday to Friday of last week, SpaceX had two Falcon 9 rocket launches within 48 hours of each other. Fridays BulgariaSat-1 launch happened from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The second one carrying a payload of 10 new satellites from Virginia-based telecommunications company Iridiumlifted off Sunday afternoon from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The two back-to-backlaunches a first for SpaceX were made possible by its reusable rocket technology. Fridays BulagariaSat-1 launch was only the second time the space venture company successfully reused a rocket booster, while Sundays marked the third. In a series of tweets after the launch, Muskseemed pleased with how far the reusable tech has come.

That being said, it could still be refined even more. As he explainedin his answer to a Twitter userssuggestion, hed like to see the rocket turnaround be so quick there isnt even time enough to touch up the paint job.

Apart from being weekend of firsts for SpaceX, it was also the first time Bulgaria launched a telecommunications satellite. For Iridium, todays payload was the second batchof its planned 70-satellite constellation, which is part of its NEXT mobile communications network. The first 10 of these low-orbit satellites were launched in January.

This weekends doubleheader was a confidence boost for the reusable rocket technology.Among other things, Musk hopes the tech will help lower the overallthe cost of going tospace. Hepreviously highlighted that launching satellites aboard SpaceXs reusable rockets is $300 million cheaper than conventional one-way-trip rockets.

Even before this weekends successes, interest in the reusable rocket tech has been steadily growing: to date, SpaceX has booked more than 50 missions including one from aerospace giant Airbus. Most arescheduled for this year or into 2018.There are a number launches both from private corporations like Iridium, as well as from government agencies, similar toBulgarias arrangement.

Perfecting its reusable rocket technology isnt just going to benefit SpaceX in the short term. Its most exciting potential application could actually be in the bigger rockets that could start ferrying human beings to Mars sometime in the2030s.

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SpaceX Just Transformed Space Flight, Launching Two Rockets in 48 Hours - Futurism