Was it really only a little over half a year ago when the idea of landing a rocket that had been to outer space still seemed a little like the stuff of science fiction? Today, it's running the risk of becoming routine (and science, of course, is the better for it). Yesterday SpaceX successfully landed one of its Falcon 9 rocket stages on earth for the fourth time, and this time they felt so comfortable about it they strapped a camera on it so we could see what it would look like if we were riding it like Dr. Strangelove's Major Kong.

Videos from SpaceX's previous successful landings have largely been taken from ground level, but this is the first to show what it's like onboard the booster itself. Though sped up considerably from real time, the video is 30 seconds of pure wonder. Its payload of a Thaicom commercial communications satellite released, the Falcon 9's first stage hurtles back from low orbit and through Earth's atmosphere, its fins adjusting as a way of steering over an intimidating swath of ocean. Suddenly, beneath it, appears the landing platform—a "drone" barge named "Of Course I Still Love You" floating 422 miles off the Florida coast. As if it were the easiest thing in the world, it coasts to a stop on the "X" of the SpaceX logo.