For nearly a decade, SpaceX evolved its Falcon 9 rocket every launch, trying to keep up with lead designer Elon Musk's relentless pursuit of innovation. Until now. An enhanced version of Falcon 9 called Block 5 launched for the first time on Friday. Musk plans for this new rocket to achieve a host of new milestones for SpaceX, including launching and landing the same rocket twice in 24 hours – as early as next year. "We expect [Block 5] to be the mainstay of SpaceX business," Musk said on a conference call with reporters before the launch. Block 5 is the version of Falcon 9 that SpaceX has been working toward since the rocket's debut in June 2010. Nearly twice as powerful as that inaugural Falcon 9 rocket, Musk called Block 5 "the last version" of the orbital class rocket.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from space launch complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on March 30, 2017. Bruce Weaver | AFP | Getty Images

SpaceX now dominates the global market of orbital rocket launches, which the U.S. had seceded to Russia and Europe until last year. Launching nearly every other week – while developing a gigantic reusable Mars rocket and a constellation of 4,425 broadband satellites – SpaceX has become one of the most valuable private companies in the world, worth nearly $28 billion. Block 5 simply concretes SpaceX's business case. Each improved Falcon 9 "is capable of at least 100 flights," according to Musk. The first Block rocket will undergo "very rigorous" examinations after the flight, Musk said, as SpaceX will be "taking this rocket apart and confirming our design assumptions" about its ability to be launched quickly and repeatedly. "Ironically, we need to take it apart to confirm that we don't need to take it apart," Musk said. The flight's success moves Musk closer to his goal for the rocket: "To demonstrate two orbital launches of the same boost vehicle within 24 hours." "The only thing that needs to change is that you need to reload propellant and then you can fly again," Musk said.

Turning around a rocket in a single day would be a momentous achievement. Being able to launch, land and launch again with minimal refurbishment between flights has been a central focus for SpaceX. The company has become quite successful at landing the largest part of the rocket – known as the first stage or booster. But it has yet to complete more than two flights with the same Falcon 9 booster. Block 5 is set to change that. "Block 5 is designed to be 10 times better" than the last version of Falcon 9, Musk said. The new rocket type arrives just as SpaceX is on pace to shatter its record 18 successful launches completed last year. SpaceX has already completed nine launches this year in the same time it took them to complete five in 2017 – including the debut of Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket in the world. "We're on track to be double our launch rate last year," Musk said. Falcon 9 Block 5 launched a Bangladesh telecommunications satellite into space on Friday, before returning to land on the autonomous SpaceX ship off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. This was SpaceX's ninth successful mission this year.