American aerospace company SpaceX on 21 December 2015 achieved the historic feat of successfully launching and landing Falcon 9 rocket.
The Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit and was also successfully landed after 10 minutes to the Earth.
It is the first time in the history of rocketry that a rocket has returned back after delivering a spacecraft to its orbit, so that it could potentially fly again. This exercise of using reusable rockets will help in reducing the cost of access to space making explorations a more realistic goal.
The 230-foot Falcon 9 blasted off from Launch Complex with 1.5 million pounds of thrust and carrying 11 commercial satellites. It marks the company's first flight since an accident in June 2015 that destroyed a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.
Success of SpaceX's mission is significant as the NASA is heavily relying on this private company for transport to the International Space Station after the US Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.
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