Space X’s Falcon 9 made a fiery but successful landing after it launched the Koreasat-5A satellite into space on Monday.
Video footage from the landing showed the Falcon 9 rocket’s base engulfed in flames and smoke as it landed on board the company’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The feed momentarily cut out as the fire from the rocket’s base began to enter the frame, but moments later it came back to show the rocket standing on the ship, its bottom still on fire.
“A little toasty, but stage one is certainly still intact on the drone ship,” SpaceX Lead Mechanical Engineer John Federspiel said during the launch.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and successfully carried the Koreasat-5A satellite into space, where it will provide bandwidth to Korea and South Asia during its 15-year mission.
The first stage of the rocket separated and headed back to Earth where it landed on the ship named, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ The second stage stayed with the Koreasat to power it to orbit.
The launch was the 16th successful launch for Elon Musk’s company this year. It‘s the 19th time a Space X rocket has landed successfully at sea or on land.
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