Good things came in threes for SpaceX today: For the third time, it used a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket booster to send a payload into space, and had that booster land itself on an oceangoing platform.
Successful recovery of the first-stage booster after launching the Echostar 105/SES-11 telecommunications satellite could even set the double-flown stage for a third go-round.
It was the second Falcon 9 liftoff this week, coming after a launch from California on Oct. 9 that successfully put 10 Iridium Next telecom satellites in orbit.
Today’s flight was similarly successful, starting with the 6:53 p.m. ET (3:53 p.m. PT) launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
