California's SpaceX company has successfully re-flown a segment from one of its Falcon 9 rockets.
The first-stage booster, which was previously used on a mission 11 months ago, helped send a telecommunications satellite into orbit from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
It marks an important milestone for SpaceX in its quest for re-usability.
Traditionally, rockets are expendable - their various segments are discarded and destroyed during an ascent.
The California outfit, in contrast, aims to recover Falcon first-stages and fly them multiple times to try to reduce the cost of its operations.
And to emphasise this point, Thursday's booster was also brought back under control to land on a barge stationed out in the Atlantic.
"I think it's an amazing day for space," said Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX.
"It means you can fly and re-fly an orbit class booster, which is the most expensive part of the rocket. This is going to be, hopefully, a huge revolution in spaceflight."
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39451401
А все почему? А вот потому:
