Falcon 9 Rocket Recovered On Floating Barge At Sea

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully delivered the JCSAT-16 commercial communications satellite to its targeted Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) Sunday. The booster was successfully recovered on the company's floating droneship after delivering its payload.

The rocket launched at 0126 EDT carrying a JCSAT-16 commercial communications satellite for SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully launched JCSAT-14 in May.

Florida Today reports that the booster fired one of its nine main engines about 10 minutes after launch and deployed its four landing legs before touching down on the droneship ... a barge about the size of a football field that was stationed about 400 miles offshore.

During the launch webcast, Kate Tice, a SpaceX process improvement engineer, said the company was "channeling our inner Simone Biles" in the spirit of the Olympics... and the rocket cooperated, sticking the landing on the droneship.

SpaceX has now successfully recovered six Falcon 9 boosters intact ... four at sea and two on land at Cape Canaveral.

(Images provided by SpaceX)

FMI: www.spacex.com