Private spaceflight company SpaceX successfully launched their much-improved unmanned Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday in California as part of their goal of sending a commercial satellite into space later this year.
The Falcon 9 rocket, which blasted off from the company's launch pad at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, is carrying a Canadian satellite called Cassiope and three more small satellites.
Cassiope, which was supposed to be launched into space during the company's first-planned launch in 2008, will be used to track space weather and monitor space environment around earth, while also serving as a communication satellite.
Elon Musk, the founder and Chief Executive of SpaceX, expressed relief after the successful and smooth launch, which proved that their careful planning for the successful deliver of the Cassiope worked very well.
"It went better than expected. It was incredibly smooth," said Musk in an interview with Reuters. "It's certainly a huge relief to have successfully delivered Cassiope to orbit. It's been weighing on me quite heavily."
Falcon 9 product manager John Isprucker also added that data coming from the rocket halfway through its track confirmed that their first test flight from the West Coast will be a success.
"It was an amazing flight," Isprucker said. "There's tons of data coming back and it looks like it was a picture-perfect flight. Everything was looking good right down the middle of the track."
The Falcon 9 rocket that stands 224.4 feet underwent several upgrades as part of their ambition of sending both manned and unmanned mission through the company's Dragon space capsule.
One of the major improvements is the utilization of nine Merlin 1D engines that were arranged in a circular layout, which will prevent other engine from malfunctioning even if one of the nine engines breaks down. The upgraded rocket also has 60 percent more engine power than the previous version.
"The new layout also provides individual protection for each engine, and further protects other engines in case of an engine failure. With this design, Falcon 9 is also prepared for reusability," a company representative said as reported by NBC News.