Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket Monday, marking the first time a large rocket has delivered spacecraft to orbit and returned to earth intact. Rockets have traditionally been disposed of after they detach from spacecraft, but SpaceX’s landing and ability to recover it after an obital flight signals a big step toward making space travel cheaper. The second-stage booster put 11 small satellites into low orbit for an Orbcomm network, while the first stage returned to Cape Canaveral, Florida, from an altitude of around 125 miles. The launch was the first since a SpaceX rocket exploded on liftoff in June.
