Singed and sooty, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket still looked brilliant Monday

SpaceX

A Falcon 9 rocket's first stage flew into space for the third time on Monday, and rare, clear skies at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California afforded a fine view of the booster.

This marked the first time an orbital rocket had ever taken off vertically, and landed vertically, for a third time. Moreover, with this 32nd landing of a first stage, SpaceX has now landed half of the Falcon 9 rockets it has ever launched. Quickly now, the company is delivering on its promise of reusable spaceflight with its new Block 5 variant of the Falcon 9 rocket.

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