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          SpaceX Aims to Launch Rocket to ISS, Land Stage on Platform

   by VOA News

   SpaceX, one of two private companies ferrying cargo to the
   International Space Station, is aiming at pulling off another landmark
   event in space travel during Tuesday's launch of an unmanned cargo ship
   to the orbital outpost.


   The company will launch more than 2,000 kilograms of supplies from
   NASA's Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida aboard its Falcon 9
   rocket. Minutes after launch, the rocket's 14-story-tall lower stage
   will separate from the upper stage, which will carry the cargo ship
   into orbit. The lower stage's rockets will then automatically refire
   and try to guide it to a safe landing on a huge sea-based platform.


   A successful landing will put SpaceX one step closer towards its goal
   of employing reusable rockets in future flights. The company has
   conducted test landings of the first stage on prior supply flights to
   the ISS, but both of those rockets landed in the ocean.


   SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk puts the chances of
   success at no greater than 50 percent.


   Tuesday's launch is the first resupply mission to the ISS since a
   rocket owned by Orbital Sciences Corporation, the second private
   company under contract by NASA to ferry cargo to the orbital outpost,
   exploded shortly after liftoff in October, destroying cargo as well as
   a dozen student experiments.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/spacex-aims-for-launch-to-iss-rocket-
   landing-on-platform/2587167.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/spacex-aims-for-launch-to-iss-rocket-landing-on-platform/2587167.html