SpaceX, Falcon 9, rocket re-use: Elon Musk creates buzz on Twitter, company to launch more missions than in 2016

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s space mission dreams have received new wings. His Space Exploration Technologies Corp. will be launching way more missions than it launched in the whole of 2016. SpaceX has just successfully fired up another Falcon 9 rocket, the eighth time in a year.

The company has planned 20 to 24 missions for the year and is well on track to complete them. This successful test fire has proven that the company is back on track, especially after a big disappointment in September 2016, when one of its customer’s satellite and rockets blew up at the Florida launch pad. SpaceX was grounded for four months due to a series of investigations as to why such a thing happened. In January 2017, Musk made a comeback, and since then has been doing launches after launches.

Musk has also proven that re-using rockets is very much possible. SpaceX hit a significant milestone in March after it launched a reused rocket in Musk’s endeavour to bring down space launch costs.

The company is going places in addition to having its own commercial customers. It has gone into a US$1.6 billion (AU$2.11 billion approx) deal with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for resupplying the International Space Station. It also has a US$2.6 billion (AU$3.44 billion approx) to transport crews to the orbiting lab.

Musk’s SpaceX is even planning to send two private citizens to the moon in 2018. Moreover, it is in talks for contracts with US Air Force for its fly missions. Musk has already brought in executives from various industries to promote innovation. For example, Andy Lambert, SpaceX’s vice president of production, spent more than a decade at BMW AG.

Falcon 9 and the Merlin engines are built by the California-based company The Hawthorne. The rocket BulgariaSat-1, which SpaceX launched on Friday, is a communications satellite destined for geostationary orbit.

“Falcon 9 will experience its highest ever re-entry force and heat in today’s launch. Good chance rocket booster doesn’t make it back,” Musk tweeted an hour before the scheduled launch.

Musk is keeping his fans informed about the Falcon 9 launch via a series of tweets (shared below). Next in line is a June 25 launch of 10 satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast and for Iridium Communications Inc, reports The Indian Express. Stay tuned on IBT AU for more updates on SpaceX launches. Till then, view Musk’s tweets.