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SpaceX Grasshopper Takes Its First Hop

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
September 24, 2012
Filed under
SpaceX Grasshopper Takes Its First Hop
Grasshopper Test Flight
SpaceX

On Friday, September 21, SpaceX’s Grasshopper vertical takeoff and landing test vehicle (VTVL) took its first test flight hop from the company’s rocket testing facility in McGregor, Texas.
The short hop of approximately 6 feet is the first major milestone for Grasshopper, and a critical step toward a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s proven Falcon 9 rocket. As seen in the video, Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 first stage, a Merlin-1D engine, four steel landing legs, and a steel support structure.

SpaceX is working to develop vehicles that are fully and rapidly reusable, a key element to radically reducing cost and increasing the efficiency of spaceflight.

Testing of Grasshopper continues, with the next big milestone – a hover at roughly 100 feet — expected in the next several months.

For more information about SpaceX, please visit: http://spacex.com

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.