SpaceX’s Falcon 9 became the first orbital-class rocket capable of reflight after landing in December 2015.
The milestone came on 21 December 2015, when the first stage of Falcon 9 Flight 20 landed vertically at Cape Canaveral after launching 11 Orbcomm satellites. The landing demonstrated that an orbital rocket stage could return from space and be prepared for another mission.
Earlier rockets had used recoverable components, but no orbital-class booster had successfully completed a powered landing and then flown again. SpaceX’s approach used grid fins, engine relights and deployable landing legs to guide the first stage back to Earth.
The achievement is often confused with the first Falcon 9 landing, which happened during the company’s 2015 CRS-5 mission attempt but was unsuccessful. Falcon 9’s reusability later became central to SpaceX’s launch business and sharply increased the number of flights a booster could perform.