New frontiers

Well, SpaceX launched a new rocket - actually an older one, er, two.

I watched the launch via their webcast, and the broadcast wasn't up to the standard of earlier efforts, but all the same, they launched a used rocket, carrying a used capsule, with two tonnes+ of cargo destined for the ISS.

The lack of furor kind of reminds me of the days of Apollo - almost nobody was watching the Apollo 13 launch or mission coverage until things went KABLOOIE! - in that it took only two landings on the moon for John Q. Public to get bored with it. Now SpaceX has done what many considered impossible - re-use a spacecraft - and the excitement doesn't exist outside the scientific and technical groupies. This is kind of significant in the annals of space flight, and possibly species survival if the hype is to be believed, yet the general populace goes, "Ho hum. What's on Facebook/Twitter?"

That S1 booster had been to space before, and landed successfully, vertically, on a pillar of flame. That Dragon capsule had been to space before, on a similar mission, and landed successfully under parachutes in the ocean.

This is an awesome achievement. Well done, everybody.