The rocket booster that sealed SpaceX’s place in history as the company that pioneered reusable spacecraft now stands in testament to the achievement outside its Hawthorne headquarters.
The thin, white, 162-foot tall aluminum-lithium alloy booster was erected over the weekend outside Space Exploration Technologies Corp., welcoming employees and visitors Monday to 1 Rocket Road.
The Falcon 9 is the first booster rocket ever to return to Earth intact for reuse.
“We’re really proud of everything SpaceX has accomplished,” Hawthorne Mayor Alex Vargas said. “The Falcon 9 is a symbol of pride for our city. SpaceX is a hometown success story and we can’t wait to see what they achieve next.”
The rocket maker’s Hawthorne headquarters sit next to the city’s airport, at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and 120th Street near the 105 Freeway. At night, locals and travelers flying to the Hawthorne Municipal and Los Angeles International airports will be able to see a red flashing light atop the rocket as required by the Federal Aviation Administration for airspace safety.
Its successful return to Earth on Dec. 21, 2015, followed its predecessor’s ugly demise six months before. On June 28, 2015, a faulty strut snapped during a Falcon 9 launch and released high-pressure helium. The rocket disintegrated, leading engineers to a major overhaul that resulted in the new upgraded rocket now on display.
This upgraded Falcon 9 has 33 percent more efficiency than its predecessor, and can carry colder, denser propellant, SpaceX says. Its successful landing occurred after delivering 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit for Orbcomm, a commercial satellite network that facilitates machine-to-machine communication enabling remote tracking and monitoring of trucking routes, agricultural production, and industrial, oil, government and maritime industries. The 11 satellites ensure continuous communication with the orbital receiver.
On the trip, the rocket’s first stage kissed outer space before separating with the second stage at more than 60 miles above ground and returning to Earth in good condition, gently touching down on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. At its fastest, it sped more than a mile a second. At its highest, it traveled the distance from Los Angeles to Bakersfield.
Nine engines — referenced in the rocket’s name — arranged in a circle at its tail carry the thrust power of five 747 jets. While the monument’s engines all still work, SpaceX decided to display it because of its historic significance.
Since the successful mission in December 2015, SpaceX has landed booster rockets three times — once in April and twice in May — on a drone ship in the ocean. They also achieved a second landing at Cape Canaveral in July.
SpaceX has built a strong track record as a delivery service to outer space for NASA and commercial companies. In 2012, it became the first private company to dock at the International Space Station.
SpaceX’s bread-and-butter is its commercial deliveries for private companies that increasingly need to have satellites in orbit for global communications and other uses. But the company also shares a higher mission: to expand human access to space, make spaceflight cheaper, and to visit Mars.
The crux of making outer space more accessible is making missions cheaper, and that requires reusability and a near-perfect landing record, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
“It’ll take a few years to iron all that out and make sure it all works well” for reuse, Musk told reporters after the successful 2015 mission. “But I think it works very well for the future.”
He expects to eventually recover nearly every launched booster. Already, SpaceX’s $62 million price tag for a Falcon 9 mission undercuts its competitors.
SpaceX is increasing its production of rocket engines and launches to keep up with demand.
The Falcon 9 monument stands atop a concrete landing pad on the southeast corner of the Hawthorne headquarters. Since its launch last year, it has been housed in a hangar at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In June, it was driven back to its California birthplace. SpaceX rockets are manufactured in Hawthorne, tested in Texas, and driven to Florida for launch. They are designed to be thin so they can be trucked across the country, unlike NASA’s space shuttles, which had to be transported on an ocean barge or on the back of a 747.
On Saturday, two cranes lifted the booster into place, gently setting it down in front of groups of curious onlookers watching from the street. It features an American flag and is inscribed with the words SpaceX and Falcon 9. Inside, on the production floor, SpaceX’s first Dragon capsule to reach orbit in 2010 hangs just outside the Mission Control room, still smeared with soot residue from its travels.
