SpaceX's most recent rocket landing looks so sci-fi in new photos
New photos released by SpaceX Wednesday show just how sci-fi their rocket landings really are.
The back-lit images reveal the first stage of the Elon Musk-founded company's Falcon 9 rocket coming in for a landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 14.
The Falcon 9 landing came after it helped launch a clutch of 10 communications satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The satellites -- which belong to the communications company Iridium -- were propelled to their final orbit by the second stage of the rocket, after the first stage made its way back down to the drone ship.
This marks the seventh time SpaceX has successfully returned a booster to Earth after launching a payload to orbit.
SpaceX hopes that by figuring out an economical way of returning these boosters after launch in order to use them for multiple missions, reducing the cost of flying to space.
The landing of the booster was actually secondary to the company's main goal of getting all of the Iridium satellites to their expected orbits.
And it's a good thing the launch was a success for SpaceX. The mission was the company's first since the devastating September explosion of another Falcon 9 in Florida during what should have been a routine fueling operation ahead of a test.
Had this launch hit a significant hiccup, SpaceX's orders could have taken a hit, along with its bottom line. Now industry experts will be watching to see how the company continues to make its comeback after the September explosion.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
