On the morning of Tuesday, January 3, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched from the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of a joint mission called Transporter-6, placing 114 satellites into orbit for various customers. Transporter-6 was SpaceX’s 200th orbital flight since the company was founded in 2002. And this was the 15th mission for this first stage of Falcon 9, equaling SpaceX’s re-use record.

The video compresses takeoff and landing to just 90 seconds, significantly speeding up the action. (The launch vehicle successfully landed at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral approximately 8.5 minutes after launch.)

But the time-lapse still captures the key moments of Falcon 9’s flight well. He returns home to Earth. This control is provided by many features, including disorienting nitrogen gas thrusters and hypersonic mesh fins, wafer-like structures that are deployed at the base of the launch vehicle after reaching space.

In 2022, SpaceX launched 61 orbital missions, nearly double the company’s record of 31 set in 2021. The Transporter-6 was the company’s first flight in 2023, and there’s sure to be many more. In August 2022, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk stated that the company is “targeting up to 100 flights next year.”