Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests

<p>The Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests were a series of controlled-descent <a href="/facts/Flight_test/uyrUsN4M">flight tests</a> conducted by <a href="/facts/SpaceX/2tKHsVdJ">SpaceX</a> between 2013 and 2016. Since 2017, the first stage of <a href="/facts/Falcon_9/mNck6vby">Falcon 9</a> rockets are routinely landed if the performance requirements of the launch allow.
</p><p>The program's objective was to reliably execute controlled re-entry, descent and landing (<a href="/facts/EDL_(rocketry)/p7TMk9sa">EDL</a>) of the Falcon 9 <a href="/facts/First_stage_(rocketry)/WNrmgztj">first stage</a> into Earth's atmosphere after the stage completes the boost phase of an <a href="/facts/Orbital_spaceflight/xdzKmkvt">orbital spaceflight</a>. The first tests aimed to touch down vertically in the ocean at zero velocity. Later tests attempted to land the rocket precisely on an <a href="/facts/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_ship/yI2SR495">autonomous spaceport drone ship</a> (a barge commissioned by SpaceX to provide a stable landing surface at sea) or at <a href="/facts/Landing_Zone_1/cEoRJoJ3">Landing Zone 1</a> (LZ-1), a concrete pad at <a href="/facts/CCAFS/dwJ9MCPH">Cape Canaveral</a>. The first ground landing at LZ-1 succeeded in December 2015, and the first landing at sea on a drone ship in April 2016. The second landed booster, <a href="/facts/B1021/uIA83cHY">B1021</a>, was the first to fly again in March 2017, and was recovered a second time.
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Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests open-in-new

Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests