January 2015

The Quest For A Reusable Launch Vehicle

         In my last post, I talked about the failed attempt of SpaceX to land a rocket booster on a barge. The booster actually came down on the barge but it experienced a crash instead of a soft landing. The hydraulic fluid that powered the steering fins ran out before the attempted landing. Today's rockets deliver their package to orbit but then crash down in the ocean.

SpaceX Fails First Attempt At Soft Vertical Landing For Booster

          I have been a fan of science fiction since I was a kid. Books, magazines, movies, television shows, comics, etc. were a refuge from the daily grind. When rocket ships were part of the story, they were usually shown as tall and thin. When they took off and landed, they went straight up or straight down, landing on their tail.