SpaceX Falcon 9 Lands Its First Stage
SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket after an orbital mission, proving that rockets could be reused and fundamentally changing the economics of spaceflight.
On December 21, 2015, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched 11 Orbcomm satellites into orbit, then its first stage flew back to Cape Canaveral and landed vertically at Landing Zone 1 — the first time an orbital-class rocket booster had been recovered intact. Elon Musk and SpaceX had attempted this feat multiple times, with spectacular failures. The success vindicated the company's bet that reusable rockets could dramatically reduce launch costs. Within years, booster landings became routine. By the 2020s, SpaceX was landing and reusing boosters regularly, reducing the cost of reaching orbit by a factor of 10. The achievement was the most significant advance in rocket technology since the Saturn V and opened the door to affordable Mars missions.
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