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SpaceX aiming to launch its first reusable rocket in the fall

SpaceX moves the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket from Port Canaveral on June 6.
(Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)
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SpaceX is aiming to relaunch one of its four landed rockets this fall.

Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday afternoon that the Hawthorne space company is shooting for its first reflight of one of its Falcon 9 rockets in September or October.

SpaceX has said that the first rocket to land on a droneship back in April would be the first to re-fly.

The company has said a number of customers have already expressed interest in launching their payloads on a reusable rocket. One of the most vocal is SES, a satellite operator based in Luxembourg that launched one of its satellites aboard a Falcon 9 three months ago and has a contract with SpaceX to launch six more.

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In an interview this year, Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer at SES, said the company wanted to be the first commercial satellite operator to fly the same rocket twice.

SpaceX has landed four rockets – one on land and three at sea. Its next launch of a commercial communications satellite is set for June 14 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

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