SpaceX Makes History: Falcon 9 Rocket Successfully Lands

Amazon’s founder and owner of space privateer firm Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, decided that Elon Musk’s big moment – vertically landing the 48m SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after delivering satellites into orbit – was too good a moment to pass up the opportunity for some backhanded compliments on Twitter.

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

The reusable main-stage booster then turned around, flew back to Cape Canaveral and landed safely near its launchpad in a dramatic spaceflight first. The rocket landed about 10 minutes after liftoff.

With the stiff competition between Blue Origin and SpaceX, a ride to space could get a lot cheaper.

The rocket, which had 18 straight successes prior to the fateful flight, was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). It was carrying 11 satellites for New Jersey-based Orbcomm.

This graphic provided by SpaceX illustrates the landing sequence of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.

“Welcome back, baby!”, Musk said in a celebratory tweet. The first-stage booster has nine engines and is meant to land shortly after liftoff for reuse.

It is, no doubt, a big win for CEO Musk and SpaceX, but it’s not the first time when a rocket has landed successfully on earth after launching into space.

“This was a first for us at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and I can’t even begin to describe the joy the team feels right now having been a part of this historic first-stage rocket landing”, the top officer at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Brig Gen Wayne Monteith, said in a statement.

Monday night’s launch is thought to be a significant step toward achieving re-usability on rockets, which would lower launch costs that could eventually lead to a commercial space industry.