On December 21, 2015, SpaceX launched the Orbcomm-2 mission using an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, marking a pivotal moment in the company’s history. The mission was notable not only for its payload but for the successful landing of the rocket’s first stage—the first time SpaceX achieved this feat. To commemorate the tenth anniversary, Ars Technica is reprinting a chapter from the book *Reentry* by Eric Berger, which details the events leading up to this achievement, starting with a tragic incident in June 2015 when a Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated during the CRS-7 mission for NASA. David Giger, who managed the Dragon program and reported directly to Elon Musk, witnessed the CRS-7 launch from mission control in Hawthorne. The failure caused significant anxiety among the relatively inexperienced team, many of whom had not faced such a setback before. Despite the chaos as debris fell into the ocean, Giger noted that the Dragon spacecraft continued to send back data, having separated from the Falcon 9 and flying thirty miles above the Atlantic. The challenge became saving the Dragon capsule, which required opening its parachutes before it descended too close to the ocean. SpaceX had not planned for this emergency, but controllers scrambled to communicate with Dragon using ground antennas. They managed to send a command to deploy the drogue parachutes, which stabilize the descent. However, the command failed, and data from Dragon ceased less than a mile above the water as it plunged into the sea with its 4,000 pounds of cargo.