SpaceX rocket launches, steers and lands in test

The privately owned space exploration company known as SpaceX successfully launched a rocket in Texas and returned it to its launching pad, the company said. To test the capabilities of a practical reusable rocket, the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation\'s \"divert test\" sent a Falcon 9 rocket, the height of a 10-story building and nicknamed \"Grasshopper,\" 820 feet into the air Tuesday. It then veered sideways and demonstrated a variety of steering maneuvers before parking itself on the launch pad in central Texas where it started, The New York Times reported Friday. A reusable rocket, instead of NASA\'s throwaway rockets, would make space travel less expensive, SpaceX said in a statement.