A little after 8:30 p.m. ET on December 21, SpaceX will launched the most powerful version yet of its 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
Shortly after the launch, SpaceX successfully guided part of the rocket back to Earth and landed it upright back on the launch pad at Landing Zone 1.
This success has the potential to change spaceflight as we know it.
Here's how the historic landing worked, and what it might mean for spaceflight.
Right now we rely on rockets to launch things like satellites and supplies for the International Space Station into space.
But just one rocket costs over $60 million, and you can only use it once. Amazon founder and space entrepreneur Jeff Bezos has compared it to using a 747 to fly across the country once and then throwing the plane away.
That's why Elon Musk's SpaceX and Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin are trying to develop reusable rockets.
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