SpaceX completed the world’s first successful launch and landing of a used rocket on Thursday, March 30.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and carried the SES-10 communications satellite into orbit before landing back on a SpaceX platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
The rocket was previously used in April 2016, and its relaunch may usher in cheaper space travel in the near future.
“It means you can fly and re-fly an orbital-class booster, which is the most expensive part of the rocket,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in an interview, which begins at 29:32 in the second video listed here. “This is going to be … a huge evolution in spaceflight. It’s the difference between if you had airplanes where you threw away airplanes after every flight, versus you could reuse them multiple times.”
This content shows the rocket’s launch and landing.
