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SpaceX just did a double-header. Two of the firm’s Falcon 9 rockets were launched within 49 hours of each other, one from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and one from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. That’s a first for SpaceX and provides a proof-of-concept for efficiently reusing rockets in the future.

The 23 June Kennedy Space Center launch, pictured, marked the second time that Elon Musk’s spaceflight company has reused a rocket booster that had already been to space, landed and been refurbished. After successfully releasing their payloads into orbit, each booster returned to Earth and safely landed on a drone ship. Now the booster from the 23 June launch will be examined for damage and possibly refurbished and launched a third time – a feat which SpaceX hasn’t yet attempted.

The 23 June launch lifted Bulgaria’s first communications satellite – its second satellite ever – into orbit. The 25 June launch carried 10 communications satellites for the Iridium company, marking the second of seven planned batches that will make up a global satellite constellation called Iridium NEXT.

After the launches, Musk tweeted that his aim is to re-launch a booster within 24 hours of its landing back on Earth, with no intermediate servicing necessary. Launching a satellite aboard a SpaceX rocket is already $300 million cheaper than other launch vehicle providers, and consistent, quick reuse could drive down prices even further.

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