SpaceX is shooting a used Falcon 9 Rocket into space tonight, marking the first relaunch attempt for the space industry.
Elon Musk’s company has successfully landed 8 out of 13 rocket attempts since Dec. 2015. The reuse-and-recycle approach it’s testing today is meant to save money, as SpaceX projects it can cut costs by 30% if it relaunches rockets rather than building new ones each time, Reuters reports.
“If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred,” Musk said, according to a 2015 SpaceX statement. “A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space.”
SpaceX hopes tonight’s launch will place a communications satellite into orbit for SES, a communications company based in Luxembourg, according to Reuters.
The launch window at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida opens at 6:27 p.m. EDT and lasts until 8:57 p.m. EDT. Watch live in the video here.
[Reuters]
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