posted 03-31-2017 12:10 AM               

Historic first SpaceX re-flown rocket stage to be gift to the Cape, says Elon Musk

SpaceX's first "flight-proven" booster to be launched and recovered for a second time will not leave Florida's coast again, on another spaceflight or otherwise.

The reused Falcon 9 rocket first stage, which made history touching down on an ocean-based drone ship just minutes after lifting off with the SES-10 communications satellite on Thursday (March 30), won't fly again but instead be retired and put on display near its launch site.

posted 05-28-2017 10:54 PM               

"I want it right up front so you can see that we are breaking barriers," Monteith told FLORIDA TODAY, referencing the Air Force's 70th anniversary motto. "This is innovation. I think it's important for everybody to get excited about the space business. And what better way than having something that's flown in space sitting right outside your gate. So every single morning that our folks come to work, they're reminded why their jobs are important."

...important issues still need to be sorted out, like making sure the stage would be safe there in a hurricane.

A Falcon booster stands 162 feet tall on its four landing legs, or 156 feet tall without them — slightly higher than the 151-foot lighthouse up the coast that dates to 1868, according to the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation.

If the rocket is not safe there, or would need costly modifications, another site could be chosen.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, run by Delaware North, has made its interest known.