This is the company's first deep space mission, and Falcon 9's first stage flew in from a much farther location than before, since its payload is headed to a place almost a million miles away, four times farther than the moon. SpaceX would have had a harder time navigating the rocket onto a sea port if the attempt went through, as it dealt with twice the force and four times the heat during re-entry. The company did load it with more hydraulic fluid this time, though, as its first attempt failed due to the rocket running out right before it landed. Elon Musk and company haven't announced when the rescheduled barge landing will happen yet, but the founder remains optimistic, saying on Twitter that there's "high probability of good droneship landing in non-stormy weather."

DSCOVR, by the way, is a joint project between the Air Force and NOAA. It was designed to monitor solar storms, so that we can study its effects on satellites, GPS and aviation. That satellite has been stuck in storage since around 1999 due to numerous issues, and it's only in 2013 that the Air Force set aside funds to exhume it from its grave.

[Image credit: SpaceX/Twitter]