The New Year has started on a positive note for California-based space manufacturing company SpaceX. On Sunday night (January 8), SpaceX successfully launched a secret Zuma mission to space on behalf of the U.S. government. The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the top-secret payload for the U.S. government blasted off at 8 p.m. EST Sunday (0100 GMT Monday) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on Florida’s Space Coast. The Falcon 9 launch during the night time created a spectacular light show in the sky for the observers in Florida.
After 2 minutes and 19 seconds to the liftoff, the two stages of the boosters got separated. The second stage continued its flight and carried the secret Zuma mission into the lower Earth-orbit. After the separation, the first stage flew back towards Earth and safely re-landed on Landing Zone 1, a SpaceX facility at Cape Canaveral. The nine Merlin engines fitted to the first stage generated a thrust of 1.7 million pounds during the lift of the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket. The upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully deployed the Zuma payload into the lower earth orbit, but no one knows what the Zuma payload is all about. Neither SpaceX nor the U.S. Government has disclosed any information regarding the secret Zuma mission.
SpaceX’s live webcast mainly focused on the descent and landing of the first stage booster of Falcon 9 at Cape Carnival. The grid fins and four landing legs helped the booster achieve a successful and safe touchdown at the Landing Zone 1. If the latest perfect re-landing is included, then SpaceX has successfully achieved 21 first-stage touchdowns till now. Out of those 21 touchdowns, 9 occurred on Landing Zone 1, and the remaining 12 took place on autonomous spaceport droneships” stationed in the ocean, as reported by Space.com. The year 2018 is going to be a very busy year for SpaceX as it is planning to launch 30 missions this year from launchpads in Florida and California. It seems that SpaceX is well-prepared for the upcoming missions, and with the successful launch of the Zuma mission, it has started the jam-packed 2018 campaign with a positive note.