Barge Carrying Recovered Falcon 9 Rocket Pulls Into Port Canaveral

The Falcon 9 booster which landed successfully on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean Friday is back in port ... leaning somewhat but still upright on the autonomous floating landing pad.

The rocket flew last Friday, delivering the THAICOM 8 commercial communications satellite for Thaicom, to a supersynchronous transfer orbit.

But the launch put the Falcon 9 near its design limit for a landing, both in terms of speed and stress on the legs used to support the booster after touchdown, according to the Associated Press.

So when the booster came back to Port Canaveral on the Atlantic coast of central Florida Thursday, it was listing to one side, but still standing tall. It was described as smudged and sooty in spots, but still intact.

SpaceX has now recovered four Falcon 9 boosters ... one on dry land at Cape Canaveral and three on the autonomous barge in the ocean. The fist booster to be reused may fly later this year, according to SpaceX.

(Image provided by SpaceX)

FMI: www.spacex.com