Watch SpaceX recover booster: “The Falcon has landed”

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket booster, the equivalent of a 156-foot-tall flying broomstick, turned around and flew back to Cape Canaveral minutes after blastoff Monday, descending to a smooth landing.

The rocket-assisted touchdown at Landing Zone 1, situated just to the north of the tip of Cape Canaveral, was the first time a booster stage of an orbital rocket returned to Earth intact under its own power.

SpaceX says the achievement is a historic step on the road to rocket reusability.

Video: SpaceX