The first-stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the largest part of the launch vehicle that houses the nine main engines, detached from the second stage of the rocket and made a pinpoint landing on a robotically-controlled seafaring platform, or droneship, in the Atlantic Ocean.
This is a routine feat for SpaceX. The company has recovered more than 60 of its first-stage rocket boosters after launch, allowing the company to refurbish the booster and use it again.
That saves the company some cash, SpaceX says.
The second stage of the rocket has now fired up its engine, and it’s working to propel the Crew Dragon capsule — carrying the four astronauts — to more than 17,000 miles per hour. That’s the speed needed to keep an object in a stable orbit around the Earth.