SpaceX: Falcon 9 rocket make historic vertical landing in Florida

The mission’s primary objective was the delivery of 11 satellites into a low Earth orbit constellation for ORBCOMM, a machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions provider.

The landing of the first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida was met with the words, “The Falcon has landed”, on the SpaceX webcast. Three tries at vertical landings of the first-stage boosters earlier this year failed; in each case, the segment aimed for a modified barge off the coast of Jacksonville.

But not all their launches have been so successful.

SpaceX said landing the rocket was a secondary priority at the Monday launch.

SpaceX has come close to landing a rocket but until now, had never actually made one successful landing. As you have no doubt seen at this point, SpaceX successfully launched and then landed its Falcon 9 rocket on the ground.

Elon Musk and SpaceX plans two launches next month: another commercial satellite and an ocean science satellite for NASA.

The upgraded Falcon 9 stands slightly taller than predecessors at 229.6 feet and has more thrust.

The mission, capped by delivery of all 11 satellites to orbit for launch customer ORBCOMM, unfolded in just over 30 minutes.

SpaceX is run by Elon Musk – the billionaire founder of Tesla electric cars who also co-founded PayPal.

SpaceX commentators described the launching and return – the initial time an orbital rocket successfully reached a restricted landing on Earth – as “very exciting”.

The rocket landing marks a huge accomplishment for the nascent private spaceflight industry, which has proven capable of delivering payloads into orbit and supplies to the International Space Station.

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company has landed a smaller, suborbital rocket in November.