Move over SpaceX and Blue Origin: The first reusable rockets flew in the 1960s

Tuesday, Nov. 23 marked an important moment in history for Jeff Bezos' private space company Blue Origin.

For the first time, they succeeded in launching their New Shepard reusable launch system to space and back.

While this was a first for Blue Origin, it wasn't the first time that a reusable launch system has flown to and returned from space.

That award goes to the North American X-15 spacecraft, which pilots flew throughout the '60s to qualify for astronaut status.

Reusable launch systems are defined by their ability to launch a vehicle into space more than once, which means they have to return to Earth after lift off in one piece — a task much easier said than done.

Since the North American X-15, there have been a number of partially reusable launch systems, including:

An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Getting a spacecraft into orbit is critical for important missions like docking with the International Space Station and going to the moon, and beyond.

SpaceX and Blue Origin have come the closest to building these fully-reusable rockets, but neither has succeeded yet. SpaceX has the capability to launch spacecraft into orbit but it has not yet retrieved the rocket for reuse.

And Blue Origin has retrieved its rocket for reuse, but the rocket is not powerful enough to send a spacecraft into orbit.

But SpaceX's and Blue Origin's designs are very different from past reusable launch systems, and its those differences that also make them desirable for missions to Mars.

 

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