SpaceX Launches Satellite as Rocket Recovery Is Scrapped
SpaceX Launches Satellite, Rocket Recovery Scrapped
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An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket from billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX blasted off carrying a U.S. research satellite while rough seas forced the abandonment of a bid to recover the booster aboard a ship.
The first stage’s “survival is highly unlikely” under a backup plan for a soft landing in water, SpaceX said before the launch. Liftoff came at 6:03 p.m. Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, Florida, under clear skies far from the stormy conditions battering the automated recovery vessel in the Atlantic Ocean.