CRS-8

08 April 2016 20:43

Dragon carried over 1500 kg of supplies and delivered (stowed in its trunk) the inflatable Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) to the ISS for two years of in-orbit tests. The rocket's first stage landed smoothly on SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ship 9 minutes after liftoff, making this the first ever successful landing of a rocket booster on a ship at sea as part of an orbital launch. The first stage B1021 was later also the first orbital booster to be used again, when launching SES-10 on March 30, 2017.