Falcon 9 First Stage Lands on Barge After Launch of Communication Satellites

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket has successfully landed on the floating drone ship after launching the third net of the Iridium communication satellites, according to the live broadcast by the SpaceX aerospace manufacturer.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 05:37 local time (12:37 GMT).

The first stage separated from the rocket and landed on the "Just Read The Instructions" floating drone ship in the Pacific Ocean nearly 8 minutes after the launch.

Successful deployment of 10 @IridiumComm NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit confirmed. pic.twitter.com/w6pzeefmzO

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) 9 октября 2017 г.

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) 9 октября 2017 г.​

The second stage reached preliminary parking orbit and continued the mission of taking the satellites to the orbit.

T-60 minutes until Falcon 9 launch of Iridium-3. Launch webcast will go live ~15 minutes before liftoff → https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z pic.twitter.com/RegJydXXul

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) 9 октября 2017 г.

​SpaceX conducts flights to deliver supplies to the International Space Station under contract with NASA, as well as commercial launches of satellites. At the moment, the space company is developing the technology for the multiple use of the rocket carrier by landing the first stage of Falcon 9 on air bases and floating drone ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The company believes that the repeated use of the first stage of rockets would cut the cost of space flights.