Elon Musk tweets spectacular video of a boat catching a SpaceX rocket nose falling from space
SpaceX snatched a rocket nose out of the sky â and CEO Elon Musk posted a video of the moment on Twitter.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched an AMOS-17 communications satellite at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday. The launch took place at 7:23 p.m. and the satellite was deployed 31 minutes later.
Musk's video captured the moment that the rocket's fairing â a nosecone used to protect the satellite payload â fell back to earth and was rescued by a ship, named Ms Tree, carrying a huge net in the Atlantic Ocean.
You can watch the video of the capture here:
It is not the first time Ms Tree has successfully caught a fairing. The boat did so in July when SpaceX tweeted a video of the landing from the perspective of the fairing.
Rescuing the rocket nose means SpaceX saves $6 million by not having to build a replacement, according to Musk.
It's another step forward in his mission to recycle rocket parts, which also includes SpaceX's spectacular booster landings.
But Ms Tree has not always been successful. During a recovery test in January, the boat just missed its target, which was dropped from a helicopter.
