Watch these two videos of a successful and nearly successful landing of the Falcon 9 reusable rocket.

Successful landing of Falcon 9 rocket, June 15, 2014

VIDEO 4 min. 46 sec. Landing at SpaceX rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas (At 2 min. 31 sec. the view changes to a side view and repeats the landing).

Nearly successful landing of Falcon 9 rocket, April 20, 2015

VIDEO 3 min. 6 sec. SpaceX CRS-6 Barge Landing – Synchronized Cameras with Zoom Closeup

This video shows synchronized video footage from both off-site cameras and on-barge cameras of the CRS-6 First Stage landing on a drone barge developed by SpaceX for Falcon 9 landings. The two angles of video are synchronized to play at the same time.

In a news report dated June 28, 2015, VentureBeat.com describes several prior unsuccessful landing attempts on the drone barge:

Three months ago, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket succeeded in launching but exploded as it landed vertically on SpaceX’s drone ship.

“Cause of hard rocket landing confirmed as due to slower than expected throttle valve response,” Musk noted on Twitter at the time.

The Falcon 9 also had a crash landing in January as it attempted a landing on the drone ship. And in February a SpaceX rocket came very close to landing on the drone ship but ultimately came down just 10 meters shy of it, heading right into the ocean.

Source: See this link.

The reusability goal for the Falcon 9 rocket has been difficult and testing is ongoing.

In order to re-fly a Falcon 9 first stage, it must first return safely to Earth after delivering the second stage and payload to orbit. Current efforts are focused on reentering the first stage through Earth’s atmosphere and conducting precision landings – initially on an autonomous spaceport drone ship at sea, and eventually on land.

In 2014, SpaceX twice reentered a Falcon 9 first stage from space and landed it in the Atlantic Ocean. Using lessons learned from those attempts, in January 2015 SpaceX attempted a precision landing on the drone ship, nicknamed “Just Read the Instructions”.

The rocket made it to the drone ship, but landed hard. SpaceX attempted a second precision landing the following month, this time over water, and the rocket impressively came within 10 meters of its target. Unfortunately, extreme weather prevented recovery.

Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the drone ship for the first time, within 10 meters of its target, in April 2015. This time, however, high lateral velocity at landing prevented recovery.

Source: SpaceX website

Not only is the rocket intended to be reusable, but so is the Dragon capsule, which is intended not only for cargo but also, in a slightly different configuration, to carry a live crew. To see the testing of the Dragon capsule for escape in case of malfunction, visit the next page.