We’ve seen many rockets launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Soon, if the government gives the OK, we’ll see rockets descend from the sky and land on base, too.
SpaceX has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission seeking "special temporary authority" to recover the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket after it is launched from Vandenberg.
It would be an experimental operation. The request is being made to the FCC because the operation would require communication transmission from an antenna at the landing site to the rocket after landing.
The application was filed on July 4th. SpaceX is asking for a six-month window of operation: September 5, 2018 – March 5, 2019.
SpaceX has not landed a rocket on the West Coast before. It has landed — and attempted landings — of first-stage rockets on a drone ship off the coast.
So far, all Falcon 9s that have landed on solid ground have touched down at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
