For a few years already, space launches have been completely transformed. A company called SpaceX managed in the span of a decade or so to achieve something no other entity achieved: come up with reusable rocket boosters that can be launched, landed and then launched again. It’s cheaper, they work, and they are nothing short of spectacular.
SpaceX launched and landed so many boosters over the past few years we kind of lost track of them. But even if Elon Musk’s company has been at it for a while now, it wasn’t until the Falcon Heavy took off for the first time in February 2018 that the world noticed for the first time what good old American engineering is capable of doing if let loose.
It was then when the Tesla Roadster reached space as the first car in the history of the world to leave this planet. But it was also then when the boosters of the two strap-on Falcon 9 rockets came back to Earth and landed in sync on their designated pads.
Since then, the Falcon Heavy has done this a couple of more times, this time for paying customers. The most recent of launches took place a year ago, when the the STP-2 mission took off carrying to space a DoD payload of satellites, and as usual people who like to capture rocket launches on camera were on sight near the pad.
Among them were the guys from Cosmic Perspective who have shown us over the years incredible images of space-faring hardware in action. At the one year anniversary of Falcon Heavy’s last launch, they released a new video showing once again how it all came to be.
The interesting part about this launch is that it took place at night, which means the images are even more spectacular. Especially the ones showing the two Falcon 9 boosters descending from the heavens and nicely set down on their designated pads.
You can see that from the 3:15 mark in the video below, but we suggest you watch it all for the full experience.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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