Recycled rockets: SpaceX calls time on expendable launch vehicles

Although the stage lost some stability as it approached the water, Musk expressed great satisfaction with the way the experiment went.

Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO: "If things go super-well then we will be able to refly a Falcon 9 stage before the end of next year

"In this case, the boost stage did not have landing gear, which helps essentially to stabilise the stage like fins on an aircraft.

"The stage actually ended up spinning to a degree that was greater than we could control with the gas thrusters, and it centrifuged the propellant. It caused the boost stage to run out of propellant before hitting the water. So it hit the water relatively hard.

"We've recovered portions of the stage, but the most important thing is we believe we now have all the pieces of the puzzle."

If this ends up happening, does it mean SpaceX will have single-handedly drop the price of commercial space transportation by about 2 orders of magnitude during its first decade of life?

I know they were saying initially when they came out with the first one that it costs about an order of magnitude less than competition, and if they can re-use the same rocket, that should reduce costs by at least an order of magnitude again.

After this they "only" need to make one with a fusion reactor, to reduce transportation (to Mars or asteroids) by another order of magnitude [1]. That's when the true space (or rather solar system) era will begin.

1 - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/10/nasa_fusion_engine_f...