SpaceX makes history with launch, landing of a used rocket
On Thursday evening, SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket — almost one year after it had previously flown it, marking the first time that a rocket had flown a payload to orbit, landed vertically and then been reused.
The flight signaled an important landmark, capping years of work and some fiery theatrics of boosters screaming back from space only to explode in failed attempts to land on ships at sea.
In December 2015, SpaceX was able to land its first rocket on a landing pad at Cape Canaveral. A few months later, the company did it again, this time at sea.
Until recently, the first stages of rockets were traditionally discarded, lost in the ocean after providing the initial power to escape Earth’s gravity.