MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to space journalist Charles Lurio, the launch is planned for January 17.
SpaceX will try to land the Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship during the Jason-3 launch from Vandenberg AFB on January 17.
— Charles A. Lurio (@TheLurioReport) January 7, 2016
The rocket will be carrying NASA’s (US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Jason-3 satellite, designed to monitor the ocean’s surface, according to NBC.
In December, SpaceX succeeded in making its Falcon 9 first-stage rocket land upright about 6 miles from where it was launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after having propelled 11 satellites into Earth's orbit. It was the first time an orbital rocket successfully completed a controlled landing on Earth.
In June, SpaceX’s CRS-7 Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo ship with supplies for the International Space Station exploded just three minutes after it lifted off from Cape Canaveral due to an overpressure in the liquid oxygen tank.
In January 2015, SpaceX tried to land a Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship, but the rocket toppled over and exploded.
