Six months after one of its rockets exploded two minutes into flight, Hawthorne-based SpaceX launched a rocket from Cape Canaveral on Monday night and delivered 11 satellites into a low orbit -- then made history by successfully landing the booster rocket back on Earth.
It was the first time a rocket had returned to land vertically at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and a tremendous success for SpaceX's effort to make booster rockets reusable and cut costs.