SpaceX Falcon 9 First Landing

On December 21, 2015, SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 first stage booster back at Cape Canaveral after delivering 11 satellites to orbit — the first time an orbital-class rocket had ever been recovered. The moment fundamentally changed the economics of spaceflight. Before Falcon 9, rockets were disposable — $60 million hardware thrown into the ocean after one use. SpaceX has since reflown boosters over 300 times and dropped launch costs by an order of magnitude. Reusability went from a punchline to the industry standard.