SpaceX reusable launch system development program

30 March 2017: a used booster launches SES-10

At 22:27 UTC on 30 March 2017, SpaceX launched the SES-10 communications satellite from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The Falcon 9's first stage, B1021, had already flown once.

Its first flight was the CRS-8 mission on 8 April 2016, after which it landed on a converted barge. In between, SpaceX took it to the factory, partially disassembled it — engines removed — inspected it, and refurbished it for a commercial customer.

Landing the same stage twice

The upper stage placed SES-10 into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

After separation, B1021 performed entry and landing burns and came down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, its second recovery. This was the first successful reflight of a complete orbital-class liquid-fueled rocket stage.

What the flight did not settle

"First reflight of an orbital-class rocket" is SpaceX's shorthand and it compresses the precise claim. The second stage was new, and B1021 itself never reached orbit on either flight.

Reusing hardware was not new either: Space Shuttle orbiters flew repeatedly, and Shuttle solid-rocket components were recovered and reused. What was new was reflying an intact liquid-fueled booster stage.

SES received an undisclosed discount for accepting a previously flown stage. The mission demonstrated the full recover-inspect-relaunch-recover cycle without establishing any public, quantified reduction in launch price.