The space-race might have cooled off over the past 20 years but one private company is still pushing the limits of space flight with a rocket that takes off and lands in the same place…
The reason that the USA has stopped actively pumping money into NASA is simply because it was using up too much cash even though there were very few missions blasting off into outer space.
However, one private company based in California called SpaceX, has continued to explore the boundaries of what is possible and they’ve recently come up with this cool piece of kit.
The SpaceX Grasshopper stands 10-stories tall yet here we see it taking off, hovering and then gently floating back to earth. The Grasshopper is a vertical take-off and landing vehicle (VTVL) and it is hoped that machines like this will help us to explore more of the dark abyss that is space, as the Grasshopper is reusable – unlike earlier rockets.
Instead of watching thousands of dollars worth of hard work being burnt up on re-entry, the Grasshopper could easily float back to earth, land and take off again. It’s not Christmassy, but it’s definitely cool.
