SpaceX completes first ever vertical landing

Well, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has set made history and the company will continue to push new frontiers. The company attempted to land the first stage of the Falcon 9, a 14-story tall portion of the rocket body, on a floating platform out in the middle of the ocean.

Ironically enough, SpaceX founder Elon Musk noted that the Falcon 9 that landed on Monday night will never actually be reused on another mission.

The launch had been delayed several times so SpaceX employees could fix glitches in the rocket’s redesign, which was meant to give it more power.

SpaceX has just taken another important step in the race for reusable space rockets.

The launch’s payload, 11 ORBCOMM satellites destined to join others in the communications company’s network, was also successfully deployed with no problems.

It’s the first successful launch since a rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded in June, and the first recovery of a spent booster for SpaceX. Welcome to the club!

“Because SpaceX’s vehicle was created to place a constellation of satellites in orbit, the Falcon 9’s first stage flew at significantly greater speeds and more than double the altitude of what New Shepherd reached last month”, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation said in a statement.

The company’s Falcon 9 rocket failed during a resupply mission to the ISS. “It’s a revolutionary moment”, Musk told the press after the landing. About two minutes into the flight, the rocket’s first-stage separated cleanly from the second stage and began a controlled descent back to Earth.

The top officer at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Brig.

“This should, if all goes well, give us enough performance to deliver 11 satellites to orbit and bring the booster all the way back to Cape Canaveral to Landing Zone 1”, added Musk.

Blue Origin’s rocket traveled vertically to a “suborbital” 62 miles above Earth.

Some pretty cool images and video of the success have been offered up by SpaceX.