<P> SpaceX initially attempted to land the first stage of the Falcon 1 by parachute, however the stage did not survive the re-entry into the atmosphere . They continued to experiment with parachutes on the earliest Falcon 9 flights after 2010 . SpaceX subsequently switched its focus to developing a powered descent landing system . </P> <P> The broad outline of the reusable launch system was first publicly described in September 2011 . SpaceX said it would attempt to develop powered descent and recovery of both Falcon 9 stages--a fully vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket . The company produced a computer - animated video depicting a notional view of the first stage returning tail - first for a powered descent and the second stage with a heat shield, reentering head first before rotating for a powered descent . In September 2012, SpaceX began flight tests on a prototype reusable first stage with the suborbital Grasshopper rocket . Those tests continued into 2014, including testing of a second and larger prototype vehicle, F9R Dev1 . </P> <P> News of the Grasshopper test rocket had become public a few days earlier, when the US Federal Aviation Administration released a draft Environmental Impact Assessment for the SpaceX Test Site in Texas, and the space media had reported it . In May 2012, SpaceX obtained a set of atmospheric test data for the recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage based on 176 test runs in the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center wind tunnel test facility . The work was contracted for by SpaceX under a reimburseable Space Act Agreement with NASA . </P> <P> In 2012, it was projected that the first - stage separation of a reusable Falcon 9 rocket would occur at a velocity of approximately Mach 6 (2.0 km / s; 7,400 km / h; 4,600 mph) rather than Mach 10 (3.4 km / s; 12,000 km / h; 7,600 mph) for an expendable Falcon 9, to provide the residual fuel necessary for the deceleration and turnaround maneuver and the controlled descent and landing . </P>

How does something as heavy as a rocket get off the ground