--- title: SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History description: SpaceX brought the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to a landing pad after launching 11 satellites into orbit canonical: https://time.com/4158330/space-spacex-satellites-rocket-falcon-9/ author: Mark Rivett-Carnac article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-22T06:29:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:34:48.800Z article:section: Science og:title: SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History og:description: The first stage of the rocket returned to earth 10 minuets after liftoff. og:url: https://time.com/4158330/space-spacex-satellites-rocket-falcon-9/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25961fb3039c6f7d/698876738e060172fa463df6/cwy59kaukaevbla.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: CWy59kAUkAEvBLa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History twitter:description: The first stage of the rocket returned to earth 10 minuets after liftoff. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25961fb3039c6f7d/698876738e060172fa463df6/cwy59kaukaevbla.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Dec 22, 2015 6:29 AM UTC  SpaceX by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Dec 22, 2015 6:29 AM UTC SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at a landing pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday, after launching 11 satellites into orbit. “The Falcon has landed,” a SpaceX commentator said on a live [webcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bTbVbe4e4), marking the first time in history a rocket delivered a payload into orbit and returned to earth with a gentle landing. Cheers of “U.S.A., U.S.A” followed the announcement. The commercial satellites, owned by communications company Orbcomm, [rode inside](http://www.spacex.com/falcon9) the nose of the towering rocket as it took off at 8:29 p.m. ET. As the second-stage booster propelled the satellites into orbit, the first stage returned to earth from an altitude of about 125 miles, touching down 10 minutes after liftoff, in one piece. **Read next:** [_Why SpaceX’s First-Stage Landing Matters_](http://time.com/4158248/spacex-first-stage-landing/) Reusing first-stage boosters will [help lower the cost](http://time.com/4158248/spacex-first-stage-landing/) of space travel and save the expense of rebuilding hardware. This is the first flight from Elon Musk’s company since a [June 28 mission failure](http://time.com/3939166/spacex-rocket-explode/) when a rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station disintegrated just two minutes after launching. Twitter welcomed the successful return of SpaceX. > [](https://twitter.com/petershankman/status/679114168637636609) > [](https://twitter.com/NASA/status/679115718072393729) > [](https://twitter.com/yo/status/679164700198764544) > [](https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/679171538847928320) SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4158330/space-spacex-satellites-rocket-falcon-9/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4158330/space-spacex-satellites-rocket-falcon-9/"},"headline":"SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History","datePublished":"2015-12-22T06:29:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:34:48.800Z","description":"It was the company’s first flight since a mission failure six months ago","url":"https://time.com/4158330/space-spacex-satellites-rocket-falcon-9/","keywords":["Space","satellites","SpaceX","rocket"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25961fb3039c6f7d/698876738e060172fa463df6/cwy59kaukaevbla.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25961fb3039c6f7d/698876738e060172fa463df6/cwy59kaukaevbla.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CWy59kAUkAEvBLa","caption":"","creditText":"SpaceX","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4158330/space-spacex-satellites-rocket-falcon-9/","name":"SpaceX Launches Satellites, Lands Rocket and Makes History"}}]}] ```