SpaceX Rocket Landing 'Another Step Toward the Stars,' Elon Musk Says

The epic rocket landing SpaceX pulled off today (April 8) is a big step forward in humanity's march out into the cosmos, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said.

SpaceX managed to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a robotic "drone ship" in the Atlantic Ocean during the successful launch of the company's uncrewed Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station this afternoon.

The first-of-its-kind touchdown is an important milestone in SpaceX's quest to develop completely reusable rockets, which Musk has said could revolutionize spaceflight by reducing launch costs by a factor of 100.

"I think it's another step toward the stars," Musk said during a post-launch press briefing today. "In order for us to really open up access to space, we've got to achieve full and rapid reusability. And to be able to do that for the primary rocket booster is going to [have] a huge impact on cost."

SpaceX has landed a Falcon 9 first stage once before, bringing the booster back on dry land at Cape Canaveral during a satellite launch this past December. But today's touchdown was the first successful drone-ship landing after four near-misses; similar attempts in January 2015, April 2015, January 2016 and March 2016 ended with the rocket hitting the drone ship but then toppling over and exploding on its deck

"The rocket landed instead of putting a hole in the ship or tipping over, so we're really excited about that," Musk said today.

parts of article from

http://www.space.com/32520-spacex-rocket-landing-step-to-stars-elon-musk.html

structure of the lead:

Who - Elon Musk

When - April 8th, 2016

Why - to shrink the launch cost

Where - landed on the Atlantic Ocean

key words:

1.drone無人的

2.quest尋求

3.revolutionize革命