First Stage Successfully Lands

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage successfully landed on the company’s drone ship, “Just Read the Instructions” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. Meanwhile, the second stage engine in the Falcon 9’s has cut off.

The IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) observatory is scheduled to separate from the rocket shortly before 9 a.m. following a coast phase that will align its trajectory with its intended destination in an orbit about a million miles from Earth at a Lagrange Point called L1.

We will continue to post updates on the IMAP blog.