SpaceX launches first reused rocket, testing cost-cutting model

SpaceXhas launchedits first recycled rocket.

The Falcon 9 rocket launched from the padat Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday evening. It wasthe first time SpaceX founder Elon Musk had tried to fly a salvaged booster. The first stage landed on an ocean platform almost a year ago after a launch for NASA.

"This is a huge day. My mind's blown, frankly," Musk said. He called it an "incredible milestone in the history of space" and predicted, "this is going to be a huge revolution in spaceflight."

SpaceX refurbished and tested the booster, which still has its original engines. The booster also made a successful landing on a sea platform, which means it could be used for a third delivery mission.

Musk's SpaceX, formally known as Space ExplorationTechnologies Corp., made history in December 2015 when it landedan orbital rocket for the first time and hasrepeated the feat seven times.

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By reusing rockets, SpaceX aims to cut its costs by about 30per cent, the company has said. It lists the cost of a Falcon 9ride at $62 million US but has not yet announced a price for flyingon a used rocket.

SES received a discount for joining the inaugural run, chieftechnical officer Martin Halliwell told reporters this week, declining to specify the cost.

Proof of concept

Price alone was not the reason SES, with a fleet of 65satellites, decided to fly on a used rocket, he said.

"Someone has to go first," Halliwell said. "Really what wewant to do here is encourage the launcher industry to follow this way forward."

Proving the concept works is crucial to SpaceX, which ismoving on from an accident in September that damaged anotherFlorida site.

SpaceX also is working on a passenger spaceship, with twounidentified tourists signed up for a future trip around the moon. The company's long-term goal under founder Musk is to flypeople to and from Mars.

For its 33rd mission, SpaceX is reusing a Falcon 9 boosterthat originally flew in April 2016.

We don't believe we're taking an inordinate risk here.- MartinHalliwell, SES

"We don't believe we're taking an inordinate risk here,"said Halliwell, noting that the rocket is in sufficiently good shape that its launch insurance rates did not increase.

He declined to give the cost of the SES-10 satellite.

After sending the SES-10 satellite on its way to orbit, therocket's first-stage will turn around and attempt to land itself on an ocean platform. If successful, SpaceX could fly thebooster a third time, said company spokesman John Taylor.

The rocket's second-stage, which is not recovered, willcontinue firing to carry SES-10 into an initial egg-shaped orbit high above Earth. It will provide TV and other communicationsservices to Latin America.