Early on Sunday, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully put JCSAT-16, a Japanese satellite, in the orbit. This was followed by a landing of the former on a barge stationed 400 miles near Cape Canaveral.
The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida at 1:26 a.m. The purpose of this mission was to carry out a geosynchronous communications satellite for Japan's direct broadcast satellite service, SKY Perfect. 10 minutes after the lift-off, the first stage of Falcon 9 deployment was initiated.
The landing was perfectly planned, thereby; making it the first successful landing since the failed attempt earlier this year. Success in recovering the rockets is crucial to SpaceX as they are consciously seeking towards cutting costs by reusing the rockets. Currently, the first stage of the rocket is discarded. However, SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk said that they plan to re-launch the used rockets in September or October.
