Elon Musk’s SpaceX completed an impressive, bicoastal demonstration of launch capability on Sunday, successfully executing the second of two unmanned missions within a roughly 48-hour period in a high-water mark for the company’s operational prowess.
Parts of both rockets returned safely to floating platforms, repeating what has become a signature feature of company launches. The back-to-backlaunches went off without a hitch, with all engines and navigation equipment performing as expected and the SpaceX team, for the first time, smoothly juggling the demands of coordinating blastoffs and recoveries from opposite coasts of the U.S. on such a compressed timetable.
