Congratulations to NASA on their successful launch and landing. Oh....wait I'm sorry, there has been a mistake . Congratulations to SpaceX!!!!!
Everyone's been making incremental steps along the way... We had the DC-X conducting take-off and landings under rocket power. There were several other smaller "lander-type" systems by various companies and groups. SpaceX performed quite a few take-off and landings using their Grasshopper and Falcon research platforms. And also achieved successful boost-back and landing approaches to a precision landing location, after successfully delivering the 2nd stage into a proper trajectory towards LEO. Those successes, alone, are no small feat -- even if the final touchdowns were not successful.
Blue Origins achieved the first landing of a rocket from supersonic speeds -- no small feat, either.
And now we have the first successful return of a 1st stage orbital rocket (on an operational mission) to a soft touchdown near the launch site. Another amazing achievement.
Seriously, folks, there's plenty of acclaim to go around for all of these guys.
©TASA-2015
