Want a chance to get up close to the next big thing in technology? SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is currently parked at the Port of Los Angeles and visitors can come by and take a look. It may not be ready for space tourism just yet, but we're clearly getting closer all the time.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has propped their rocket up on an outer-harbor dock in San Pedro after completing another successful launch and return flight over the weekend, according to Whittier Daily News. This was the second successful test in a row for SpaceX after a setback in September during which one of the rockets exploded at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
During the recent test, the rocket landed in the Pacific Ocean and was pulled in by a marine research vessel early Thursday morning. A small crowd of particularly committed space fans showed up to witness the arrival and many more have come by to check out the rocket in its temporary location. The 156-foot-tall rocket is currently welded vertically to a custom barge and will stay in San Pedro for a few more days before returning to one of SpaceX’s facilities.
If you don’t make it out in time to gawk at this spacecraft, you may have more frequent chances soon, at least if San Pedro’s city councilmember Joe Buscaino has anything to do with the matter.
“We’ll do whatever we can to land SpaceX permanently here at the Port of Los Angeles,” Buscaino told Daily Breeze. “We’re going to be known not only as the port bringing container and cruise ships. We’ll also be a space port.”
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