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A great launch, everything worked as expected, delivering 11 OrbComm satellites to Earth orbit (they all got deployed in the minutes after reaching orbit). But that was the routine part... although it was the first flight of an improved version of Falcon 9 1.1 ("Full thrust" version).
The first stage accelerated the second stage to about 1.5 km/s, then separated, turned around, flew back, and landed. It is the first time a rocket stage used for going to orbit has been recovered like that. Certainly a remarkable day in the history of spaceflight.
helicopter view
Full launch, landing and satellite deployment video
Two pictures from the stream (the numbers in the upper right corner are the second stage speed and height).
One satellite gets deployed, the box in the lower middle part of the image:
The first stage accelerated the second stage to about 1.5 km/s, then separated, turned around, flew back, and landed. It is the first time a rocket stage used for going to orbit has been recovered like that. Certainly a remarkable day in the history of spaceflight.
helicopter view
Full launch, landing and satellite deployment video
Two pictures from the stream (the numbers in the upper right corner are the second stage speed and height).
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