Falcon 9

A Falcon 9 first stage stands on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral under a pink sky, a crane beside it, after it came back from the December 21, 2015 launch that put 11 Orbcomm communications satellites into orbit. This is the photo that changed the economics of launch. It was the first time a rocket used to put a payload into orbit had flown back and landed upright, on a former launch pad, Complex 13, turned landing zone. Watching a booster come home is now a normal part of a Cape launch, and it started here.