Monday’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch in Cape Canaveral, Fla. was an historic event, and this long-exposure photo shows the entire operation in all of it’s glory.
The snap, shared by SpaceX on Twitter, shows the rocket launching, re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and successfully landing on solid ground, marking the historic process.
It was the first time the company’s orbital rocket successfully completed a stable earth landing—making the vehicle reusable, which will be crucial if the cost of space flight is to be reduced.
The previous version of the rocket exploded minutes after take-off in June. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the explosion was caused by a faulty strut.
