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Touchdown! SpaceX Rocket Makes a Perfect Upright Landing

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk provided live updates of the event via Twitter, and SpaceX posted a video showing the mission in its entirety to YouTube. The first stage rockets involved in propulsion of the Falcon 9 into orbit were safely returned to the launch pad vertically using propulsion, meaning that they can be reused.

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The SpaceX mission sent 11 small satellites to orbit Monday night – its first mission since a June accident that destroyed a supply ship headed for the International Space Station. Kudos to SpaceX and Elon Musk’s leadership who made all of this possible. Now SpaceX has released new footage shot from a helicopter that was hovering near the landing zone, and it offers a fantastic view of the 14-story-tall rocket stage hitting its mark after returning from space.


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Several earlier attempts to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on an ocean platform have failed.


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However, this will likely be dwarfed by the wider significance of SpaceX’s achievement, which has brought us a step closer to cheap, reusable rockets.

Rival company Blue Origin, a space start-up founded by Amazon.com chief executive Jeff Bezos, nailed a similar return rocket landing test last month. The latest mission was capped by delivery of all 11 satellites to orbit for customer Orbcomm. Welcome to the club!

Two other images, both long-exposure views, capture the rocket launch and landing in different ways.

SpaceX is aiming to revolutionise the rocket industry, which up until now has lost millions of dollars in discarded machinery and valuable rocket parts after each launch.

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The two-stage Falcon 9 blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The push for reusable rockets translates into enormous cost savings, which could have a profound and positive impact on the future of space travel.

A crane steadies the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster rocket as it rests on a landing zone near the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Canaveral Florida