Workers at SpaceX really have reason to celebrate. The private spaceflight company is the first to successfully landed its rocket on the ground.
According to NBC News, the company launched the Falcon 9 rocket on Monday night. The first stage of the rocket was used to propel the payload to 62 miles before the second stage kicked in. After entering orbital flight, the rocket landed on Earth again at a prepared landing zone.
This comes nearly half a year after the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft filled with cargo for the International Space Station exploded just minutes after lift-off. In contrast to that incident, the crew was undeniably ecstatic about the success of this next venture.
That’s one small step for SpaceX and one giant leap for private space flight.
