What a night! Cameras capture SpaceX’s historic Falcon 9 rocket landing

This was the first full launch by SpaceX since an unmanned mission to the International Space Station broke apart shortly after takeoff in June. If Elon Musk and Co. can develop reusable rockets, it’ll drastically drive down the cost of launching stuff into orbit and usher in a new era for space travel.

Falcon 9, which was carrying 11 satellites, landed in an upright position in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Musk described Monday’s landing as “a revolutionary moment” during the teleconference, noting that “no one has ever brought an orbital class booster back intact”. The first stage then landed safely in a designated spot just a few miles from the launch pad.

But SpaceX had to reach low orbit – which begins about 100 miles above Earth – and its rocket needed to travel at an angle and at a speed of more than 17,000 mph in order to put the spacecraft into orbit.

Musk, who also runs the Tesla electric auto company, said he can drastically reduce launch costs by reusing rocket parts.

The launch is a ” giant tech demo for SpaceX, as being able to deliver on claims and come back from losses with not only nominally flight, but also improvement.

This evening, sometime between 8 and 9 PM EST, SpaceX will attempt to launch its new-and-improved Falcon 9 rocket into orbit. (Credit: SpaceX)A time-exposure shows the streaks created during the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent and the first-stage booster’s descent.

SpaceX had attempted the landing on a drone ship several times before but never managed to successfully land the craft. Gen. Wayne Monteith, the top commander at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, noted that the returning booster “placed the exclamation mark on 2015”.

Plenty of other individuals and entities equally excited about space chimed in – including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, whose rocket company landed the New Shepard after a suborbital flight last month. And he sees Monday’s success as just one piece of the puzzle.

Until October, SpaceX’s next commercial customer, telecommunications fleet operator SES of Luxembourg, had been set to place its 5,300-kilogram SES-9 satellite aboard the inaugural flight of the Falcon 9 upgrade. Earlier this year SpaceX tried to stick such a landing using a modified barge as a touchdown site, but failed at all three attempts.