SpaceX lands its 8th Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral

Marking the successful landing of Falcon 9 for the eighth time, SpaceX celebrated the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday which carried 5,500 pounds of supplies, experiments and other cargo headed to the International Space Station (ISS).

At 9:39 ET, the Falcon 9 took off from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. It's the same launch pad that witnessed the success of Apollo 11 mission in 1969, sending the first humans to the Moon. The last launch to take place on this launch pad was in 2011, for the Space Shuttle launch.

About eight minutes after liftoff, the first-stage rocket booster landed back on land at the company’s Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

“Baby came back,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted, followed by a snapshot of the return landing.

Baby came back https://t.co/5FRhw3AT2b

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2017

pic.twitter.com/6Ve3YJoStm — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2017

The Dragon spacecraft is set to arrive at the space station early Wednesday morning.
Jessica Jensen, the director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX said, “All is looking great. We’re not expecting any issues.”

Right on schedule, solar arrays have been deployed on @SpaceX #Dragon cargo spacecraft. Watch: https://t.co/mzKW5uDsTi pic.twitter.com/NCqYrCNR7x

— NASA (@NASA) February 19, 2017

The Dragon Spacecraft launch was supposed to take place on Saturday, however, because of slightly odd” readings with a backup motor for steering the engine nozzle on the second stage, the launch was called off 13 seconds before the scheduled time.

“99% likely to be fine,” Musk tweeted. “But that 1% chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day.”

The latest success also adds to the recovery from a major setback that happened in last September when one of its rockets caught fire and exploded on a launchpad at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and also destroyed one of the commercial communications satellite.

Moreover, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said earlier this month that the company is aiming to launch Falcon 9 every two to three weeks in 2017.

SpaceX also plans to launch a used rocket — one of the recovered boosters — this spring. The next cargo mission for NASA is believed to be the first to reuse a capsule from a previous flight.

The launch of the Falcon Heavy is intended for summer. By the end of 2017, Elon Musk also wants to test a rocket and capsule for shuttling astronauts to the space station.