PARIS — Launch-service provider SpaceX has cut by more than half the time it takes to recover, refurbish and re-fly its Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage after just two campaigns and expects further substantial time savings as it gains more experience, a SpaceX official told insurance underwriters.
SpaceX has said its first reuse of a first stage, in a March mission to geostationary-transfer orbit for commercial fleet operator SES, took nearly a year.
The learning curve has since been steep. For the second flight with a . . .
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