Whats Next?
"SpaceX engineers are now trying to figure out how they can recover the second-stage booster as well as the first. "
No. SpaceX at one time considered trying to recover the second stage of the Falcon 9, but gave up on that idea. The problem is that every pound you add to the second stage you take away a pound from the payload capacity. Why spend all that time, effort, and money when the Falcon 9 will eventually be replaced by Starship/Super Heavy?
The author of the article didn't read the link he supplied - what SpaceX is doing is modifying a Falcon 9 second stage so they can try to make it reenter the atmosphere the way that Starship will do it - as a testbed for their ideas. They are not planning on landing it in a controlled manor.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
