8 ms·

Yes; in fact they have videos showing the whole stack re-entering and doing a propulsive landing (one at a time, of course.) The second stage will need a re-en

Yes; in fact they have videos showing the whole stack re-entering and doing a propulsive landing (one at a time, of course.) The second stage will need a re-entry heat shield, but otherwise can land like the first. Tricky part is getting enough margin in the second stage for the landing fuel and legs and heat shield. Usually the top stage is the one you optimize most heavily. So plausible, but tricky. Good news is that the second stage is much cheaper than the first, at least on the F9. Eight fewer engines, for one.

davidwhodge 12y ago
Cool. Where might one find those videos? I can't seem to locate them.
- ejr 12y ago
  Their website has been changed quite a bit and old linked videos are hard to find. I found a copy uploaded to YouTube in 2011 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSF81yjVbJE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSF81yjVbJE Edit: Found the original copy on the Web Archive http://web.archive.org/web/20110615000000*/http://www.spacex.com/assets/video/spacex-rtls-green.mp4 http://web.archive.org/web/20110615000000*/http://www.spacex...