[Lyle O]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

My Dad worked as an electrical engineer on the Saturn V. It's stunningly amazing how the Space X boosters return to a landing pad or barge. Yes, it IS Rocket Science.

Very cool indeed! Interesting to note that the NASA team on Apollo considered having the boosters "return" for re-use, but discarded the idea early-on because the amount of engineering and development (and expense) necessary just wasn't worth it (especially given the timeline of reaching the moon before 1970). Obviously the priorities (and technologies) have shifted in this regard today...