After suffering a decimating loss of its Falcon 9 rocket on June 28, SpaceX made history Monday after it launched and landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.
READ MORE: SpaceX returns to flight with scheduled launch of satellites Monday
SpaceX launched its Orbcomm-2 mission at 8:33 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base where it successfully launched 11 satellites for the private company.
SpaceX has attempted to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 twice this past year, with limited success. Though the rockets had made it to the landing pad.
Cheers rang out from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California as the first state passed each milestone, including the successful delivery of Orbcomm’s 11 satellites.
Musk said he ran outside and heard the sonic boom of the returning booster just as it landed; he assumed it had exploded. He learned the happy truth when he went back into Launch Control and saw video of the standing rocket.
“I can’t quite believe it,” he said. “It’s quite shocking.”
Though private company Blue Origin launched and landed a rocket in November, its rocket was suborbital, while the SpaceX rocket reached orbital altitude.
Musk said it will take a few more years to iron everything out, for actual reusability of his rockets. In the meantime, he’s working to transform the SpaceX Dragon capsules from cargo ships into real
spaceships for crews travelling to and from the orbiting station.
His ultimate goal, for human missions, is Mars. “This was a critical step along the way to being able to establish a city on Mars,” he said. “That’s what all this is about.”
— with files from The Associated Press
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