We Are Living in the Age of the Reusable Rocket

What you're looking at above is the first stage of a rocket that's been to space twice. For the first time, SpaceX has reused one of its Falcon 9 rockets, this time to deliver the SES-10 communications satellite to geostationary orbit.

You can watch the rocket launch here, which looks just about the same as any other SpaceX launch and landing. Which is, of course, exactly the point. If SpaceX can routinely reuse its rockets, it can bring the price of space launches down dramatically. Though other space companies—most notably Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin—have plans to launch reusable rockets, SpaceX has a considerable head start; it's the only company to launch the same rocket into orbit twice (Blue Origin's rockets are suborbital).

Motherboard has written a few times about what living in the era of reusable rockets might be like. Each time, it was a thought experiment, an optimistic look at the future, a consideration of the only dream Elon Musk has had for SpaceX short of going to Mars. We don't have to wonder anymore. We're there.