SpaceX’s amazing ‘grasshopper’ rocket lands on legs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets will someday be able to land on hydraulic legs, dramatically cutting the cost of sending cargo -- and even human beings -- into space. (SpaceX)
Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations. (SpaceX)
Dragon's trunk supports the Dragon spacecraft during ascent to space, houses the solar panels and contains a cargo carrier designed to hold unpressurized cargo. (SpaceX)
Falcon 9's second stage is powered by a single Merlin vacuum engine nearly identical to the first-stage engines, but modified to operate in the vacuum of space. (SpaceX)
Falcon 9’s walls are made of aluminum-lithium alloy, a material made stronger and lighter than aluminum by the addition of lithium. (SpaceX)
Falcon 9 was designed from the beginning to be fully reusable, and carries landing legs which will land the rocket safely on Earth after takeoff. (SpaceX)
The nine Merlin engines that power the Falcon 9 first stage are arranged in an Octaweb structure, with eight engines surrounding one center engine. (SpaceX)
The Merlin engine that powers the first stage of Falcon 9 is developed and manufactured in-house by SpaceX. (SpaceX)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/438378373027360768">tweeted out a picture</a> of the Falcon 9 and said, "All four landing legs now mounted on Falcon 9." (Twitter/SpaceX)
Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/437761896028975104">tweeted out another view</a> of the Falcon 9's landing legs. He wrote, "Mounting landing legs (~60 ft span) to Falcon 9 for next month's Space Station servicing flight." (Twitter/SpaceX)