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A comment on SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space. Parent comment

Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by Grue3 on Monday January 18, 2016 @11:44AM (#10925350)
>Nobody else does this. I have absolutely no idea what you could possibly be referring to.

Believe it or not, we've been landing spacecraft for decades. Does "space shuttle" ring a bell?

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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by benjaminl on Monday January 18, 2016 @02:31PM (#10926331)
The Space Shuttle was a space craft, not a rocket. The SpaceX equivalent to the Space Shuttle is the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon V2 does land exclusively on the ground.
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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by anarazel on Monday January 18, 2016 @04:15PM (#10927007)
In addition to all that (spacecraft, srbrs, atmosphere), a space shuttle launch literally cost more than a billion.
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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by Dylan16807 on Monday January 18, 2016 @03:48PM (#10926810)
The shuttle throws its lower stages into the ocean.
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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by joegaudet on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @08:31PM (#10935447)
Which were recovered and refurbished to keep cost down.
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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by mikeash on Monday January 18, 2016 @03:15PM (#10926608)
OK, that's one orbital rocket that's recovered on land. You said "everybody else" which implies at least several, so what other examples are there? (Hint: none.)
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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by Grue3 on Monday January 18, 2016 @04:06PM (#10926936)
Buran. It only flew once, but it did work!

Apollo Lunar Module, if Moon counts.

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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by mikeash on Monday January 18, 2016 @04:11PM (#10926974)
Buran, fair.

Lunar module doesn't count, the reduced gravity makes everything a hundred times simpler.

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Re:SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering... by rkallos on Monday January 18, 2016 @01:20PM (#10925883)
The space shuttle couldn't land and take off on a planet whose atmosphere doesn't support it, hence why SpaceX is trying to do the same via rocket propulsion.
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