SpaceX plans to land a spacecraft on a floating ocean platform, a maneuver untried by NASA or other national space programs.
A Dragon capsule will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 16, bringing a supplies, cargo, and experiments to the orbiting outpost. After the Dragon spacecraft separates from the Falcon 9 booster that will lift it to space, mission planners will attempt to guide the rocket back to Earth, toward a planned soft landing.
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who owns SpaceX, believes developing the ability to easily access space with reusable rockets could lower the cost of traveling off Earth by as much as 99 percent. If this can be achieved, the lower costs could make colonization of Mars possible, moving humans permanently off Earth for the first time in our history.
"If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred. A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space," Elon Musk said.
The Falcon 9 booster is manufactured with four special stabilizing wings, giving the rocket a passing resemblance to a craft out of Star Wars. These appendages are used to stabilize the booster just prior to touchdown.
"Grid fins are stowed on ascent and then deploy on reentry for "x-wing" style control. Each fin moves independently for pitch/yaw/roll," Elon Musk tweeted.
In April 2014, SpaceX tested the F9R prototype rocket, consisting of a Falcon 9 booster equipped with legs for landing. The booster touched down in the water, but stormy conditions prevented recovery of the first stage. Another booster landed in the ocean in July 2014, as part of a second test.
A pair of dramatic failures rocked the private space program in October. An Antares rocket, without a crew on board, was destroyed in a dramatic explosion just a few seconds after liftoff. Four days later, SpaceShipTwo disintegrated immediately upon igniting engines, killing one occupant.
Liftoff of the Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for 2:31 p.m. EST on December 16, taking off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This will be the fifth resupply mission to the International Space Station carried out by SpaceX, but the first to touchdown on a landing platform.
"The science research aboard the Dragon includes the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), which will characterize and measure the worldwide distribution of clouds and aerosols -- the tiny particles that make up haze, dust, air pollutants and smoke; model organism research using fruit flies to study the biological effects of spaceflight; and, a new study using flatworms to better understand wound healing in space," NASA reports.
