David Spain wrote:
It's going to be interesting to see how SpaceX approaches FAA
certification for this.

I'm going to bet that it would be easiest for SpaceX to appropriate
an otherwise uninhabited island off the East Coast of Florida for a
landing pad and barge it back to the Cape, rather than try to fly
this thing back over populated territory. Either that or a sea barge
landing platform.

Does Falcon 9 launch over populated territory when it launches from
Canaveral? If not, unless the route back is somewhat circuitous
wouldn't the return to the launch site also avoid population centers?

It would have to be a Pretty Big (tm) barge to be terribly stable even
in calm seas I should think, though I guess the Sea Launch folks might
have some experience in that regard - albeit in the opposite
direction, and with, IIRC a converted drilling platform.

rick jones
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