It is December 21, 2015, and SpaceX has made history … again. WHILE delivering 11 satellites to orbit, the Falcon 9 booster, the first stage, landed at Cape Canaveral – the first EVER rocket to return to the landing pad not only intact, but upright, on its own power, ready to be refurbished and ultimately relaunched.
From Wikipedia: SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. Elon is now a household name, with SpaceX, and Tesla.
- In 2008, they launched the first private rocket to orbit;
- In 2010, they launched the first private rocket to orbit, with a spacecraft that came back intact;
- In 2012, they launched the first private rocket that delivered cargo to the ISS;
- In 2013, they launched the first private rocket to deliver a satellite into orbit;
- And today, they not only delivered 11 satellites into orbit, but brought the booster back to a smooth landing next to the launch site.
SpaceX, and other companies like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, XCor are all making strides to take us … not just astronauts, into space! Way to go SpaceX on the first orbital launch and return-to-landing-site in history!