SpaceX made history Thursday evening by launching the world’s first reused rocket. “It shows you can fly and refly an orbit-class booster, which is the most expensive part of the rocket,” said engineer and magnate Elon Musk, in a SpaceX webcast. “This is ultimately a huge revolution in spaceflight.” The reuse of the Falcon 9 rocket, which costs about $62 million, can dramatically bring down the price of a single launch—an important achievement for Musk’s goal in driving down the cost of space exploration. The occasion marked the first time in history that the same rocket has been used on two separate missions to orbit. After it launched a satellite, the rocket safely returned to Earth and landed on an empty droneship in the Atlantic Ocean called Of Course I Still Love You.
