Reusable Spacecraft Could Be New Norm for US Missions

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Feb. 6, 2018, on its demonstration mission. Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

The United States may soon abandon disposable spacecraft for future missions in space and turn instead to craft that can leave and return to Earth in one piece.

The change was described in a provision of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), outlined under the current draft’s Section 1605. The Hill noted that the NDAA renamed its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle as the new “National Security Space Launch Program.”