Exactly a decade ago, on December 21, SpaceX entered the record books by becoming the first organization to recover an orbital-class rocket through a vertical landing on Earth.
Seven years after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk first floated the idea, and after four failed landing attempts, a Falcon 9 carrier returned to Cape Canaveral, Florida, just minutes after deploying 11 Orbcomm OG2 communications satellites, remaining intact as it landed upright on the ground.
You can watch the remarkable moment via the video player embedded at the top of this page.
The breakthrough brought SpaceX a big step closer to its goal of reusing first-stage boosters for multiple missions, dramatically reducing the cost of space missions by not having to build a new rocket for each flight.
The landing was big news at the time, but these days the feat attracts little attention and has become routine.
SpaceX uses the Falcon 9 not only for satellite deployment, but also for crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station, as well as private crewed missions and flights to the Moon.
Since then, other space companies have tried to emulate SpaceX’s performance in landing an orbital-class rocket, but it’s not easy.
The US rocket company Blue Origin, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, failed in its first attempt with its New Glenn rocket earlier this year, but succeeded in a more recent flight.
Meanwhile, a Chinese company saw its rocket hit the ground as it attempted to land a launch vehicle for the first time earlier this month.
SpaceX used the knowledge gained from the Falcon 9 to develop the mega rocket Starship, which will one day fly to the moon and even Mars. Engineers have found a way to bring home the spacecraft’s first stage, called the Super Heavy, although the process is a little different than the Falcon 9. Instead of landing with legs on the ground, SpaceX uses giant mechanical arms on the launch tower to “catch” the Super Heavy on its return and secure it just above the ground.
