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Spaceport Will Have to Wait for SpaceX

The company tested technology that could eventually bring its Falcon 9 rocket back down safely onto a floating landing pad — technology it plans to refine at New Mexico’s Spaceport America once it’s able to recover the rocket.

(TNS) -- Spaceport America will likely keep waiting for SpaceX to begin testing a reusable rocket in New Mexico after the company’s Falcon 9 didn’t survive its landing Tuesday on a seafaring “droneship.”

Under a contract with NASA, SpaceX successfully rocketed to space with supplies destined for the International Space Station — including science experiments, groceries and an espresso machine, among other goods — on its Dragon spacecraft, which departed from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The company also tested technology that could eventually bring its Falcon 9 rocket back down to Earth safely onto a floating landing pad — technology it plans to refine at New Mexico’s Spaceport America once it’s able to recover the rocket.

The Falcon 9 booster returned to the company’s unmanned “droneship” but landed “too hard for survival,” according billionaire investor and SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s Twitter feed.

He said on Twitter, “Looks like Falcon landed fine, but excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over post landing.”

The Falcon 9 is a first-stage rocket with pronged legs designed to land back on the ground intact — unlike rockets that historically have been built to burn up as they fall back to Earth after propelling a vehicle into space.

Tuesday’s attempt was SpaceX’s third try this year at a precision landing for the Falcon 9. In January, SpaceX reported the rocket successfully returned to the unmanned ship — but it landed hard and didn’t survive. In February, SpaceX reported its rocket landed in the water about 11 yards from the barge and was unrecoverable due to extreme weather.

Musk — also the founder of PayPal and electric automaker Tesla Motors — says on the space company’s website: “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. A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space.”

As commercial space companies increasingly take over missions that were once the purview of NASA, efficiency and cost competitiveness become increasingly important, said Christine Anderson, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, which runs Spaceport America.

She said a reusable rocket would be “an extraordinary feat.”

“With commercial space companies, they are looking at the bottom line,” Anderson said. “They are looking at, how do we do this efficiently and affordably? It takes a lot of money and resolve to bring a rocket back down under controlled circumstances.”

SpaceX has constructed a $2 million vertical launch pad and support facilities at Spaceport America and plans to test its Falcon 9 there, Anderson said.

“They have already built a facility with us,” she said. “We’re anxious to have them.”

The Dragon spacecraft, loaded with more than 4,300 pounds of payloads and supplies, is expected to reach the International Space Station on Thursday, two days after liftoff.

©2015 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC