Successfully Lands Falcon 9 Booster Back At Cape Canaveral

SpaceX has recovered a fifth Falcon 9 booster, and for the second time the rocket landed back at Cape Canaveral following its launch of a Dragon supply spacecraft to ISS.

The spacecraft launched at 0045 EDT Monday from Cape Canaveral, sending the Dragon supply ship on its way to the orbiting outpost. About 2.5 minutes after launch, the first stage separated from the capsule, fired its rockets again, and returned to the Cape for a soft landing a few miles south of the launch pad.

Space.com reports that, in a post-launch news conference, Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy manager of ISS utilization, called the mission a "great day for SpaceX, a great day for NASA."

"From what I can see, [the rocket is] in excellent shape, and probably pretty soon ready to fly again," said Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of flight reliability at SpaceX after the launch.

In a related story, the company has selected the first rocket it will fly for a second time.

The Verge reports that the second booster SpaceX recovered ... the first to successfully land on the drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean in April ... will be the first to fly for a second time. It is expected to fly again sometime this fall, according to the report.

(Images provided by SpaceX)

FMI: www.spacex.com