Nicely done, nicely done. Reminds me a bit of the early DC-X flights, this link: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv9n9Casp1o" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv9n9Casp1o</a> is DC-X flight #8 which I expect GrassHopper to do at some point as well (this was 1995 btw, imagine the computers they had on DC-X vs what they have on Grasshopper!)<p>Blue Origin is a bit ahead here in terms of take off and landing. But it has the challenge of not benefiting from a paid launch contract like SpaceX currently has.<p>What I find particularly interesting is that either the Dragon or the Blue Origin craft already have the delta-V to land an return to orbit from the moon, if they can get there. The thing that will break that wide open is on-orbit refueling. The game changes in a particularly compelling way when you can launch "gas cans" to orbit and refuel existing craft that are already in orbit. Not only does that extend the life of satellites but it enables Multi-launch configurations. United Launch Associates gave a pretty compelling talk about how they would meet some of those challenges in their long duration vehicle paper: <a href="http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/docs/publications/Integrated%20Vehicle%20Propulsion%20and%20Power%20System%20for%20Long%20Duration%20Cyrogenic%20Spaceflight%202011.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/docs/publications/Integrated%2...</a><p>Exciting times, 20 years late but still.