Space

A Look at the Landed Falcon 9

Posted by William Steel on
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Image via SpaceX.

Two weeks have passed since SpaceX successfully landed a first stage Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral. Now the first stage lies dormant, if not a little dirty, in a SpaceX hanger.

Although little detailed information has emerged about the precise state of the rocket, you can count on SpaceX putting it through a fair amount of inspection and assessment to determine what would be required for its use in another mission.

What information we do have sounds promising though. A few days ago Elon Musk posted this to his Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/_-d28bQEc9/

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Image via SpaceX.
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A closer look at the Falcon first stage’s  ‘Octaweb’ of nine Merlin engines. Image via SpaceX.
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The first stage just prior to being removed from the landing pad. Image via SpaceX.
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The same first stage: clean and shiny before launch. Image via SpaceX.