The achievement is promising for the space industry at large. When companies like SpaceX can reuse both rockets and capsules, that promises to dramatically lower the cost of each mission. They can fly more often, or accomplish missions without straining tight government budgets.

And that's a good thing for NASA, since it virtually depends on SpaceX for ISS supply missions like this. The Dragon is the only resupply spacecraft that can return a healthy amount of cargo to terra firma, and NASA probably doesn't want to pay through the nose just to recover experiments in a timely fashion. This latest flight is bringing back studies on how microgravity affects the heart and stem cells, as well as research into a drug that can overcome bone loss for astronauts. Lower-cost flights could enable more of these experiments, or at least help justify their existence.