The Rocket That Kept Coming Back

In 2013, SpaceX engineers began attempting something that seemed impossible — landing an orbital rocket booster upright after launch, then reusing it for another flight. The early attempts were spectacular failures. Boosters crashed into the ocean, tipped over on spindly legs, or exploded on the drone ship they called Just Read the Instructions. Each attempt cost millions of dollars and ended in fire.

They kept going.

On December 21, 2015, after years of iterations, data analysis, and incremental improvements, a Falcon 9 booster descended from the edge of space, fired its engines, and settled gently onto Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral. The control room erupted. What had looked like stubborn foolishness had become a turning point in the history of space exploration.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5 that "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Notice what perseverance produces — not just success, but character. The SpaceX engineers didn't simply get a landed rocket. They became people who knew how to solve problems that had never been solved before.

God is less interested in our smooth landings than in who we become through the hard ones. Every failed attempt — every setback in your faith, your marriage, your ministry — can be data, not defeat. The One who holds eternity in His hands is patient enough to let you try again.

Keep firing the engines. Your landing zone is coming.