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May 6, 2016, 4:18 AM UTC / Updated May 6, 2016, 6:12 AM UTC

SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a ship at sea during mission to launch a Japanese satellite into orbit early Friday morning.

The landing was made during the launch of the JCSAT-14 commercial communications satellite for SpaceX customer SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. of Japan, which took place at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:21 a.m. EDT Friday.

Landing confirmed. Second stage continuing to carry JCSAT-14 to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. pic.twitter.com/HfHI5cwoYX — SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 6, 2016

SpaceX pulled off an ocean landing last month, during the launch of the company's robotic Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station.

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Company representatives weren't optimistic that Friday's touchdown try — on a robotic ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean called "Of Course I Still Love You" — would work; the launch sent JCSAT-14 to a more distant geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), so the Falcon 9 was traveling much faster when it returned to Earth.

"Given this mission's GTO destination, the first stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing unlikely," SpaceX representatives wrote in a mission description.

Such landing attempts are part of SpaceX's effort to develop fully and rapidly reusable rockets — a key priority for the company and its billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, who has said such technology could cut the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100.

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SpaceX has had touchdown successes both on sea and on land; this past December, the company brought a Falcon 9 first stage down softly on terra firma at Cape Canaveral during a satellite launch.

The JCSAT-14 liftoff was originally scheduled for early Thursday morning, but bad weather on Florida's Space Coast pushed the attempt back a day.

Originally published on Space.com.