CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its first recycled rocket Thursday, the biggest leap yet in its bid to drive down costs and speed up flights.

The Falcon 9 blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, hoisting a broadcasting satellite into the evening sky on the historic rocket reflight.

It was the first time SpaceX founder Elon Musk tried to fly a booster that soared before on an orbital mission. Musk called it an “incredible milestone in the history of space.

This particular first stage landed on an ocean platform almost exactly a year ago after a space station launch for NASA. SpaceX refurbished and tested the 15-foot booster.

It nailed another vertical landing at sea Thursday once it was finished boosting the satellite for the SES company of Luxembourg. SpaceX workers outside Mission Control at the company’s Southern California headquarters cheered every step of the way — and again when the satellite reached its proper orbit.

Longtime customer SES got a discount for agreeing to use a salvaged rocket, but wouldn’t say how much.

Chief Technology Officer Martin Halliwell called it “a big step for everybody — something that’s never, ever been done before.”

SES is considering more launches this year on reused boosters.

Boosters — the most expensive part of the rocket — typically are discarded after liftoff, sinking into the Atlantic. SpaceX began flying back the Falcon’s first-stage boosters in 2015; it’s since landed nine boosters, including Thursday’s booster — three at Cape Canaveral and six at sea.

The company is working on a plan to recycle even more Falcon parts, like the satellite enclosure. For now, the second stage used to get the satellite into the proper, high orbit is abandoned.

Blue Origin, an aerospace company started by tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, already has reflown a rocket. One of his rockets has soared five times from Texas. These flights, however, were suborbital.

NASA also has shared the quest for rocket reusability. During the space shuttle program, the twin booster rockets dropped away two minutes into flight and parachuted into the Atlantic for recovery. The booster segments were mixed and matched for each flight.