SpaceX is ready to try launching a rocket again six months after one of its rockets exploded right after launch. The testing suggests there won't be any issues when the Falcon 9 rocket ignites at 8:33 p.m. Monday night. The failure of the last launch meant that a Russian rocket had to bring necessities to the International Space Station. This time, the launch has been contracted by Orbcomm to carry 11 satellites into orbit. It's an impressive turn-around time from the failed launch, compared to competitor Orbital ATK, which spent over a year investigating and planning before it decided to go ahead with another mission just a few weeks ago.
The payload was originally supposed to go up Sunday but was pushed back a day in order to give the rocket a better chance of successfully landing its first stage, softly enough to be reused. That's been a long-time for goal for SpaceX and one that hasn't worked out up to this point. It would be an enormous coup for SpaceX chief Elon Musk, especially now that Congress has given United Launch Alliance a chance to compete with SpaceX again. New victories that help the younger company stand out will offer an additional bonus.
Reusable rockets mean a gigantic savings, and would put SpaceX at the top of the desirable contractors for government and corporate space missions. Unlike other attempts, this time the rocket will try to land on solid ground rather than a drone ship at sea.
If SpaceX can pull this off, it bodes very well for the company's plans for 2016. Not only will it play a critical part in the manned mission program development, but it makes Musk's plan for a network of Internet-providing satellites that much more realistic. Having one success doesn't mean there won't be future issues, but it does lay down a marker proving it can be done, which means it can be repeated.
You can watch the launch from SpaceX's website starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
