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A comment on SpaceX returns to flight with Falcon 9 rocket launch. Parent comment

Re:SpaceX returns to flight with Falcon 9 rocket launch by grkvlt on Sunday January 15, 2017 @01:07AM (#13402617)
NASA did operate the STS throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s though, which landed and re-used, albeit expensively, the orbital space-plane component.
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Re:SpaceX returns to flight with Falcon 9 rocket launch by stcredzero on Sunday January 15, 2017 @07:05PM (#13407318)
Letting bulk cylindrical metal shells slam into the ocean is a bit less sophisticated than tail landing a liquid fueled rocket. Landing the orbiter was a technical tour de force, but the effort went into increasing cross-range, taking away from the economics.
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