On Sunday, Jan. 17, SpaceX saw a successful lift off of its Falcon 9 rocket out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1:42 p.m. ET:
Nearly one hour later, the rocket had successfully achieved its primary mission goal, which was to deploy the Jason-3 weather satellite, which will use radar technology to measure ocean height across the globe to track sea level rise.
The second objective was to retrieve the first-stage of the Falcon 9 rocket to prove its reuse capabilities. However, that plan didn't go as well as planned. Click here to learn what happened.
Within 10 minutes after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage performed a series of engine burns while using GPS tracking to safely guide itself toward one of SpaceX's un-crewed drone ships.
But just seconds before viewers were anticipating to see the rocket touch down, the camera on the drone ship froze, leaving everyone in gut-wrenching limbo.
You may remember that SpaceX has already attempted this landing twice — first in January of last year and then again last April. Both landings ended in a spectacular rocket explosion, but SpaceX is hoping that won't be the case this time around.
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NOW WATCH: Watch never-before-seen footage of SpaceX's monumental rocket landing