On This Day: SpaceX lands reusable rocket for 1st time On Dec. 22, 2015, SpaceX successfully returned the company's Falcon 9 rocket to Earth, landing it vertically on a landing pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., -- 10 minutes after it blasted-off for its jaunt to space and back. By (0) This long exposure shows the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the safe return of the first stage of the rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on December 21, 2015. File Photo courtesy of SpaceX | License Photo On December 22, 1984, "subway vigilante" Bernhard Goetz shot and injured four would-be holdup men on a New York City subway. File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI | License Photo