Perfect ten’s from all the judges—last night SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket made its first successful vertical landing on a pad in Cape Canaveral.

Why it’s important

This wasn’t just a demo flight. No mere test. The Falcon 9 took off for space with a payload of 11 communication satellites to be launched into orbit. Two minutes in the flight, stage one separated, turned itself around and returned to land safely on the pad at the Cape, while the upper stage continued on to successfully deliver it’s payload into orbit 800km above the Earth.

SpaceX founder, billionaire Elon Musk, says the capability to land and reuse the booster rockets will significantly reduce the cost of space flight.

Perhaps we have just witnessed the inciting incident that will kick off the great age of commercial space flight promised for so long.

Well done, all!

Check out the details at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/spacex-successfully-lands-rocket-six-months-after-devastating-accident/article27900594/