IntellectBeat

A day after SpaceX pulled off an upright landing of its powerful Falcon 9 rocket, the head of France's space agency called it a "technological feat" but warned of more work ahead. CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall told AFP why cost and technology show reusable launchers are not yet a game-changer. What do you think of SpaceX's successful landing? "What they did yesterday is clearly a technological feat, everyone is unanimous on that point. That said, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that they made just the first step by recovering (the rocket) but not reusing it yet. The launcher worked once, it returned and landed perfectly. Let's see first if it's possible to use it again and whether a lot of a work will need to be done to make it flight-ready. We should not forget that reusable launchers already exist, with space shuttles being one example. But when they have to be re-readied for flight the costs have been significant." Wh...