SpaceX finally nails landing on drone ship, one giant step for reusable rockets

OREANDA-NEWS. April 11, 2016. There's a lonely Falcon 9 rocket standing proudly by itself atop an autonomous landing pad barge in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean right now. The rocket is the first in history to complete a space mission and then land in one, recoverable piece at sea.

SpaceX's four previous attempts to use one of its drone barges to retrieve a rocket all ended in dramatic and fiery explosions.

Being able to retrieve and recycle rockets is a big part of the commercial space flight company's plan to drive down the cost of accessing space. Most rockets have typically fallen into the ocean after just one use, never to fly again.

SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station atop the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday at about 1:45 p.m. PT. The drone landing took place about 10 minutes later.

The Falcon 9 reached a top speed of over 4,000 miles per hour during launch and then had to be slowed down on its return to Earth and guided to "Of Course I Still Love You," the name of the drone ship landing pad that was waiting off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.