Relive History With SpaceX's Falcon 9 Landing Montage

There is no way around it. SpaceX will be memorialized in spaceflight history as having made the first orbital rocket landing. More than just the feat itself, it will hopefully open the doors to reusable rockets in the future. That second part of SpaceX's equation still has to be delivered, as the historic Falcon 9 has yet to make its first flight after its momentous landing. In the meantime, however, Elon Musk's company will not waste any time or marketing resource to let the world know about its achievement, like through this almost four-minute compilation of the dramatic moments in SpaceX history.

The energy and jubilation in the video is unmistakable, perhaps even palpable. And why wouldn't it be, considering landing the first stage of an orbital rocket on solid ground is no simple, not to mention inexpensive, feat. And SpaceX and its employees should know, after having failed two sea landings and blown up what could have been a third.

Blue Orbit, which is backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, may have, for a while, stolen SpaceX's thunder. But Blue Orbit's success, which is also no small matter, involved landing a rocket launched at sub-orbit. SpaceX has its eyes on literally higher things and now it has an orbital rocket landing under its belt.

But as if to emphasize how difficult, maybe near impossible, that landing was, SpaceX will try to make another landing later this week. The difference is that this time, it will once again try to land it on a platform floating over the ocean. Such a kind of landing is more fuel efficient, says SpaceX, because it would allow the rocket to continue is parabolic travel route instead of forcing and navigating it to a landing pad near where it launched. That said, its first two attempts at a sea landing both ended in a fiery mess.

As for the historic Falcon 9, its future is still unknown. At one point, Musk hinted that it would be placed in a museum given its importance. Later on, however, he said it was ready for launch, having been cleared of any damage. Whether SpaceX does launch it, however, will be a different story.