SpaceX Successfully Lands Falcon 9 Rocket in Florida as Seen in Awesome Tracking Cam Video

SpaceX successfully launched their Transporter-2 mission, putting 85 commercial and government spacecraft (including CubeSats, microsats, and orbital transfer vehicles) into orbit, as well as three Starlink satellites on June 30.

Following the trip, Elon Musk's commercial space transportation business tweeted some remarkable footage of the reusable first-stage Falcon 9 booster coming in to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

While SpaceX has filmed many of its more than 80 Falcon 9 rocket landings since the first one in 2015, this footage is unique in that it follows the booster from a high altitude all the way down to its landing place. The sound of the booster firing up to halt its descent adds to the content's unique charm.

@twitter|https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1410392725996904448@

SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on Landing Zone 1, LZ-1, at Cape Canaveral, only a few miles from where it started, less than 10 minutes after launch. A launchpad tracking camera captured breathtaking footage of the rocket's return to Earth and precise touchdown.

Tracking Footage of Falcon 9 Landing on LZ-1

Space.com said the Transporter-2 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 3:11 p.m. EST on Wednesday (June 30). The mission was initially scheduled to launch on June 25, but it was postponed a few days to allow for further prelaunch testing. The jet then entered restricted airspace around the launch site on Tuesday (June 29), causing another 24-hour delay. SpaceX launched the Transporter-2 mission from Cape Canaveral.

@twitter|https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1410317115072991236?@

This was the first time this specific first-stage booster has launched and landed. Later, SpaceX released a video showing a wider view of the rocket landing.

SpaceX also released a video of the launch of three Starlink satellites, which will join the company's growing constellation of small satellites to provide internet from space.

The rocket's first stage booster, B1060, has successfully launched and landed eight times since its initial flight a year ago. Space.com said it launched an updated GPS III satellite for the United States Space Force last year. It was also SpaceX's 89th first-stage booster recovery and the company's first land landing of the year since prior launches had landed their first-stage boosters on one of its drone ships.

The Transporter-2 mission, SpaceX's second dedicated small-satellite rideshare program, launched 85 commercial and government spacecraft into orbit, including CubeSats, microsats, and orbital transfer vehicles that help place all of the small satellites in the proper orbits. The rocket launched three of SpaceX's own Starlink Internet satellites, bringing the total payload to 88 tiny satellites into polar orbit.

Other Rockets Joining SpaceX

The launch of SpaceX's mission coincided with the introduction of Virgin Orbit's own commercial service for the deployment of tiny satellites, albeit Virgin Orbit's system uses a rocket fired from a converted jumbo jet rather than a more traditional ground-based launch.

Rocket Lab, based in California, is another space business with an eye on the small-satellite launch industry. It has already completed a series of successful commercial missions since its first one in 2018 per Digital Trends.

Check out more news and information on SpaceX on Science Times.