Space X has historic landing

Space X has had major success today with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket that released eleven satellites and, in a first, landed the first stage safely on Earth.  At 8:29 pm EST (12/21) the twentieth Falcon 9 ever launched and the sixth of 2015 launched eleven ORBCOMM satellites into low earth orbit. 

The eleven satellites will add into a network of six other ORBCOMM satellites to create a constellation of seventeen satellites.  These will help with communications and tracking of mobile assets for transportations businesses, mining businesses, and governmental organizations.  The eleven satellites were released twenty minutes into the launch, about 620 km above the earth, in groups of two, and were all released without incident.

A major success of the launch was the intact retrieval of stage one of the Falcon 9 rocket.  Space X had tried to land the first stage on a floating platform in the ocean in the past and had never had any success.  Today was the first time trying to land the stage on land and it worked.  Approximately ten minutes after lift off Stage one of the Falcon 9 rocket landed without incident on a Space X landing pad in Cape Canaveral, FL. 

The ability to re-use a rocket engine will potentially save millions of dollars for future space travel.  Space X had launched its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) in June but the Falcon 9 rocket malfunctioned and the payload was lost.  So, this very successful launch, landing, and release are a major achievement for Space X.