GettyAfter recently creating the largest battery ever in less than 100 days, Elon Musk is ready to break more records.
The SpaceX founder has announced he is keen to attempt another first: re-launching both an orbital rocket and the Dragon spacecraft together for the first time ever.
The billionaire Tesla founder posted a photo gallery of the last mission each reusable spacecraft took part in, adding that the revolutionary launch was due to take place on Tuesday December 12.
The Dragon model craft has been used since 2012 as a part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program to regularly resupply the International Space Station (ISS), Futurism reports.
It’s such a huge advancement for reusable space technology because so many resources and so much money is wasted as old spacecrafts sit collecting dust.
SpaceX has launched a refurbished Dragon capsule in the past, its first in June 2017, but pairing it with a reusable orbital rocket is very new and will undoubtedly cut a lot of cost.
Reusable technology allows SpaceX to host cheaper launches and therefore allows access to greater spaceflight capabilities.
On Tuesday, SpaceX will attempt to refly both an orbital rocket and spacecraft for the first… https://t.co/Wm5SpjNdMb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 8, 2017
Elon Musk previously announced that launches with reusable rockets are $300 million cheaper than conventional launches.
With these developments along with the repair of one of SpaceX’s launchpads which was damaged during an explosion last year, the number of launches the company completes will rise.
Musk has introduced a spectacular turnaround time for rockets, saying he aims to have them refurbished for reuse in just 24 hours after landing from a mission.
