Travel to space, for whatever purpose, has proven to be very expensive for all parties involved. Whether or not the mission is successful, the project still costs millions.
This is why SpaceX has experimented on reusable rockets, particularly the Falcon 9. Fortunately enough, the company run by Elon Musk has recently proven that the Falcon 9 is fit for reuse. Theoretically, this will save Space agencies like NASA millions of dollars.
As Design & Trend notes, SpaceX actually is not the only company that has been courting NASA with this idea. However, the company has been the only successful one to carry out the idea. While Musk's company has launched and landed a total of five Falcon 9 rockets, Boeing has launched zero.
The trouble, however, is not just in landing the rockets back on Earth, but in getting them ready for relaunch. Recently, SpaceX has proven again that this is possible. As The Verve shares, a tied-down Falcon 9 was recently fired at full thrust for about three minutes.
However, actual relaunch will begin in September or October, according to Musk and Hans Koenigmann, SpaceX's flight reliability vice president. Later on it will be conducted at sea. Hopefully, this goes along better than the company's first try earlier this year. Unfortunately, during the first attempt, a fluctuation in one of the nine engines of the Falcon 9 was discovered. Musk decided to keep that first attempt as a souvenir.
Meanwhile, there are other suppliers who also have eyes on the same idea, namely Blue Origin and Vulcan Aerospace. Blue Origin, whose CEO Jeff Bezos has admitted to working on a reusable rocket named Virgin Galactic, is creating a plane that will send spacecrafts into suborbital Space. Vulcan Aerospace is building a plane as well.
