SpaceX: Land the rocket. Fly it again.
SpaceX lands rocket boosters and flies them again instead of throwing them away. Explore how reusing the most expensive part changes cost, cadence and how fast a team learns, and what it costs up front.
See the idea in one picture ↓- first booster landing after orbit
- 2015
- flights by one booster
- 37
- landings succeeded
- 658 of 671
- first booster caught by the tower
- 2024
Figures from public launch records.
Independent educational analysis. Scenarios, people, numbers and illustrations on this page are original PMcademy practice material, not company research results or an endorsement.
The most expensive part is used once.
The most expensive part is thrown away
The booster lands and flies again
Read the analysis
Imagine every delivery you make destroys the truck. You could make trucks cheaper, or you could bring the truck back. Bringing it back needs extra fuel, landing gear, inspection and a team to turn it around, and the first attempts may fail. The product question is whether your biggest cost can be used more than once, and what you must build to make that safe and fast.
Think about the customer who can only afford one try.
“At full price we launch once a year. We need four tries.”
- A launch she can afford
- Room to fail and retry
- One shot a year
- Long waits for a ride
Read the analysis
Our fictional learner, Asha, runs a small satellite startup. At full price she can launch once a year. If a launch costs much less, she can launch four times, fix what she learns and try again. Ask how your price changes what your customers can attempt, not only what they pay.
Where reusing a rocket saves money
- 1Thrown away
Without reuse, every flight needs a brand new booster, the most expensive part.
- 2Land and refurbish
A booster that lands can be inspected and flown again for a fraction of the cost.
- 3Fly again and again
One booster has flown 37 times, so each flight costs less and teaches more.
Animated illustration. Names, numbers and people are fictional teaching material.
Reuse turns a fixed budget into more flights.
Illustrative data and simplified behaviour. This model does not represent a live company system or measured company results.
Read the analysis
Use the model below to compare three paths with the same budget. Throw each booster away, land it and refurbish it, or land it and turn it around quickly. Watch the cost per flight and how many flights the budget buys. The numbers in the model are illustrative.
You pay up front, and you carry less.
Read the analysis
Reusable hardware needs years of development, failed landings and new ground equipment before it saves anything. Saving fuel for landing means less capacity on every flight. In return, each flight costs less, more flights happen, and every flight teaches the team something. Decide how many uses you need before reuse pays back, and what you give up on each use.
Landings are counted. Costs are claimed.
Public records list 658 successful landings in 671 attempts and one booster with 37 flights.
What each flight really costs SpaceX, which is not published.
- Cost per flight over time
- Days to turn a booster around
- Reliability of reused versus new parts
Read the analysis
Landings and reflights are public and easy to count. The cost of each flight is not public, so the savings rest on company statements. In your project, separate what you can observe from what you are told, and track the cost of the reused part over time rather than a single estimate.
Cheap and disposable, or durable and reused?
Your fictional team runs delivery drones, and about one in twenty lands hard and is damaged. You can switch to cheaper drones you replace when damaged, build tougher drones with a repair station, or design drones with swappable parts that are back in the air within an hour. Choose a path and explain the cost per delivery you expect.
Choose a next move
Leave with a reuse decision.
Your artifact
Write a reuse decision for your most expensive part: its cost each time, how it could be reused, what you must build, the uses that pay back and what you give up per use.
Critique my project artifact using only the evidence I provide. Write a reuse decision for your most expensive part: its cost each time, how it could be reused, what you must build, the uses that pay back and what you give up per use. Separate observed facts, assumptions, proposed tests and missing evidence. Identify a failure mode and a cheap check. Do not invent company results or user research. Ask for my artifact before starting.
Read the analysis
Pick the most expensive part of delivering your product: hardware, content, data or setup work. Estimate what it costs each time and how often it could be reused. Write what you would need to build to reuse it, how many uses pay that back, and what you would give up on each use.