On the 21st of December, 2015, SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth without damaging it. This landing a big step in making space travel significantly more cost effective and commercially available. The ability to reuse a rocket is a huge deal to the spaceflight community, as before this, all rockets launched either stayed in space, or were crashed into the ocean. Some rockets had built-in parachutes to deploy upon reentry of Earth’s atmosphere, but this didn’t guarantee a successful landing.

Most conventional rockets were dropped into the ocean in hopes of salvaging parts to make another launch more cost friendly. Simply launching a Falcon 9 rocket costs 60 million U.S. dollars, so SpaceX is saving $60 million just by landing the rocket back on Earth to reuse it. Sounds like a fair deal.

The launch and landing of SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 took 10 minutes. It took off, stayed in space for a moment, then immediately came back down. Possibly the most dangerous fact is that the rocket had to land thrusters down as it would of been during initial takeoff. The thrusters and engine are the most vulnerable and sensitive part of the rocket. One good hit or miscalculation could cause the rocket to tip. Which did happen. Twice.

SpaceX has been trying to land a rocket back on earth for a while now, so the fact that they finally pulled it off gave the SpaceX employees good reason to go nuts when they saw the rocket gently land from the observation room. The first two times, the Falcon 9 was delivering supplies to ISS (International Space Station), once the rocket attempted to land, it missed its mark and landed on its side, completely destroying it, and any hopes of reusing it. The second time, the rocket almost made it, in fact it did, but it tipped over and landed in the ocean, completely destroying it again. Third time’s a charm when the rocket successfully landed without tipping at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

This marks the first successful rocket landing after the rocket was in orbit. This means with enough practice and research, this landing technique can be done flawlessly. Soon enough, anyone could go to space for a new type of vacation. Or perhaps visit other planets like an intergalactic bus station, how cool! Hopefully in the near future this will become a very real possibility, and one day humans will be able to colonize other planets, being able to land on their surfaces, all because of the technological advances that happened here when SpaceX became the first to land their rocket back on Earth.

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