HOW TO REUSE A ROCKET

It’s been almost 100 years since the very first liquid-fuelled rocket was launched by Dr Robert H. Goddard in 1926. Goddard’s three-metre-tall rocket was filled with petrol and liquid oxygen and was fired 12 metres into the air. Although the payload of Goddard’s novel rocket was only around 4.5 kilograms, his method is still used today to send spacecraft and satellites beyond Earth’s atmosphere on rockets with payloads of millions of kilograms.

But what happens to the rocket once it’s done its job of delivering cargo beyond