Elon Musk’s Space X Launches And Lands Reusable Falcon 9 Rocket

The flight was the first for Musk’s California-based company since a rocket failure in June destroyed a cargo spaceship being carried on a resupply mission bound for the International Space Station.

On Monday night, Elon Musk and his aerospace company SpaceX made history, finally demonstrating their reusable rocket technology.

In Silicon Valley’s race to space, Elon Musk is back on top.

Landing the rocket Monday was a giant step toward making spacecraft reusable – a longtime quest of Musk and aerospace engineers.

For Musk, chief executive of privately held SpaceX, it was a moment of triumph after three previous attempts failed. Orbcomm said in a press release that the satellites were launched successfully into orbit.

The launch and landing also marked the first time any company has landed an orbital rocket segment back on Earth following a launch to space. The Amazon boss offered SpaceX his congratulations, though his message gently reminded the company that it’s not the only member of the prestigious rocket-landing club.

The 23-story-high Falcon 9 went almost 125 miles (200 km) into space before separating its second stage to deliver 11 ORBCOMM satellites.

Landing the rocket is revolutionary not just because it was a feat of impressive engineering, but because it could eventually make space travel cheaper.

Video images on SpaceX s webcast showed the first stage of the rocket touching down at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This is the first time SpaceX has ever attempted to land a rocket on land. However, the SpaceX vessel managed to land in one piece. Up until now, the first stage of rockets disintegrated and landed into the ocean.

SpaceX is aiming to revolutionise the rocket industry, which up until now has lost millions of dollars in discarded machinery and valuable rocket parts after each launch.