Ten years ago, on December 21, 2015, SpaceX achieved a milestone by successfully landing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket after an orbital launch, marking a turning point in reusable rocketry. The event followed the company's recovery from a devastating failure earlier that year. This anniversary highlights the dramatic comeback detailed in Eric Berger's book 'Reentry'.
In June 2015, SpaceX suffered a major setback when its Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the CRS-7 mission, carrying NASA's cargo to the International Space Station. The failure, which resulted in the loss of the Dragon spacecraft and $118 million in supplies, was traced to a faulty stainless steel rod end in a helium composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) inside the liquid oxygen tank. This small part, rated for 10,000 pounds of force, broke under less than 2,000 pounds due to material defects from a cheaper cast version substituted to cut costs.
Hans Koenigsmann, then vice president of Flight Reliability, led a five-month investigation, working around the clock. 'I feel like if I’m responsible for the risk, I’m also responsible for when it goes wrong,' he said. NASA attributed the incident to a 'design error' by SpaceX and inadequate quality control, criticizing the lack of screening for the industrial-grade part. SpaceX's report blamed the supplier, but Koenigsmann acknowledged shared fault: 'SpaceX and the supplier screwed up.'
Undeterred, SpaceX upgraded to the Falcon 9 Full Thrust version, incorporating denser propellants by super-chilling liquid oxygen and kerosene for an 8-10% performance boost. This densification process, led by engineers like Phillip Rench, involved chilling oxygen to near-solid states using liquid nitrogen, producing eerie growls during tests. Elon Musk pushed aggressively: 'We’ve got to get the liquid oxygen colder.'
On December 21, 2015, the Orbcomm-2 mission launched eleven satellites into orbit. After deploying the payload, the first stage returned and landed upright at Landing Zone 1 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, despite initial fears of sonic booms damaging nearby facilities. Air Force General Wayne Monteith approved the attempt, noting the risks: 'Your career dissipation light starts blinking.' The control room erupted in cheers as the rocket stood firm, with Musk reportedly 'delirious with joy.'
This success, after months of intense work on recovery, upgrades, densification, and land landing preparations, validated SpaceX's reusable vision. As Koenigsmann reflected, 'It’s hard to describe how epic this comeback was after our first Falcon 9 launch failure.' The event saved the company from potential collapse and paved the way for over 100 subsequent launches from the site.
