---
title: "One Year Ago: Watch the World Lose Its Mind Over SpaceX’s First Landing"
description: "It has been a year since SpaceX first landed one of its reusable Falcon 9 rockets which launched 11 communications satellites into orbit. 2016 turned out to be a tumultuous year for SpaceX given its brief brush with catastrophe, yet the company was also able to make some significant strides."
date: "2016-12-21"
modified: "2016-12-21"
authors:
  - name: "Dom Galeon"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/domgaleon"
url: "https://futurism.com/one-year-ago-watch-the-world-lose-its-mind-over-spacexs-first-landing"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "falcon 9"
  - "reusable rocket"
  - "SpaceX"
---

# One Year Ago: Watch the World Lose Its Mind Over SpaceX’s First Landing

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

Exactly a year ago now, SpaceX made a historic first-ever orbital class [Falcon 9 rocket](<https://futurism.com/?s=Falcon+9>) landing. On December 21, 2015, Elon Musk's space venture company launched 11 communications satellites to orbit, while at the same time proving that its rocket-landing technology works.

And while we've seen all of it in footage released by SpaceX, *National Geographic* takes us behind the scenes, exclusively capturing Musk's reactions as he watched the Falcon 9's first-stage return and successfully landing at Landing Zone 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brE21SBO2j8

Since then, SpaceX has made more space deliveries (logging a total of [more than 70](<http://www.spacex.com/about>) in its manifest), with more to come as contracts with NASA, and [6 successful Falcon 9 landings](<http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/14/12467632/spacex-falcon-9-jcsat-16-drone-ship-landing-success>) out of 11 attempts. Of these 6 landings, the SpaceX website notes only its firsts — the first landing on December 2015, and the [first ocean barge landing](<https://futurism.com/breaking-news-spacex-finally-re-lands-falcon-9-rocket-ocean-barge>) in April 2016. The barge is actually a droneship which SpaceX has cheekily nicknamed "Of Course I Still Love You".

Other landings worth noting include a costly one last May 2016, when a Falcon 9 rocket sustained heavy damage due to high entry velocity — this has been the company's "life leader for ground tests," [according to Musk](<https://futurism.com/spacexs-falcon-9-lands-but-sustains-massive-damage-may-be-unable-to-fly-again>).

While the company is setting [an example for reusable rockets](<https://futurism.com/spacexs-flawless-falcon-9-landing-will-make-you-appreciate-rocket-science-as-never-before>), SpaceX has yet to really reuse any of preloved rockets.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-john-galeon-9b086925/>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/domgaleon>)