SpaceX made another historic feat as it launched its Falcon 9 into space on February 19. It might sound ordinary to some space enthusiasts especially to Elon Musk's fans, but this is extraordinary as the Falcon 9 was launched in the famous launchpad 39A.
So what happened in the launchpad 39A? As summed up by the New York Times, the said launchpad was home to the manned Apollo missions such as the Apollo 11 which carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon in 1969. Launchpad 39A also brought the first shuttle launch into life way back in 1981.
SpaceX leased the said launchpad from the National Aereonautics and Space Administration (NASA) for their ventures in 2017 and beyond including their Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions. The recent flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 on Sunday was for a resupplying mission headed towards the International Space Station.
Elon Musk, the CEO and head of SpaceX, continuously updated his followers on Twitter. As revealed in Reuters, the flight of the Falcon 9 was delayed due to some unexpected issues on the rocket's steering system.
All systems go, except the movement trace of an upper stage engine steering hydraulic piston was slightly odd. Standing down to investigate.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 18, 2017
If this is the only issue, flight would be fine, but need to make sure that it isn't symptomatic of a more significant upstream root cause — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 18, 2017
The flight which transpired on Sunday was indeed a good recovery for the Falcon 9 tragedy last year. The said incident occurred when one of the SpaceX rockets exloded in the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. With this succesful launch, SpaceX hopes that they can catch up easily on their delayed mission. SpaceX has a list of to-dos this 2017 which included the successful flights earlier this year and the possible launch of their Falcon Heavy by summer.
