For Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX, American spaceflight has always had an expensive flaw that keeps it from being practical on a large scale. After all, the vast majority of the rockets NASA has launched into space since the 1960s have left as full-bodied feats of ingenuity, and come back down in pieces, disintegrating in the atmosphere, floating aimlessly in space, or crashing down into the oceans of Earth. It’s remarkable that most of the human passengers of NASA spacecraft have lived to tell the tale; reusing the spacecraft, on the other hand, has never been an option.

Musk’s SpaceX is currently working to correct that flaw. On August 13, the company successfully tested its Falcon 9 rocket prototype, a spacecraft that, according to the New York Times, is the size of a 10-story building. Not only is the rocket meant to take off and then touch back down in the same spot, it also differs from traditional NASA rockets in that it doesn’t blast straight up into the air. The Falcon 9 is designed for lateral flight, meaning that, upon lift-off, it angles off to the side. During the test, the rocket moved 330 feet away from its launchpad–as well as 820 feet into the air–a successful test of yet another SpaceX innovation.

The Falcon 9 is also known as the Grasshopper, thanks to its lateral leaps.

Of course, Musk and the rest of the SpaceX crew are still a fair distance from creating a rocket that can reach space orbit and return in reusable condition. While Musk thinks the quick disposal of used spacecraft is sort of like flying a 747 across the country and then immediately junking it upon arrival, there is a reason that rockets traditionally haven’t held up after propelling a shuttle into space.

For one thing, it takes an immense amount of energy to blast a rocket into the air. For another, the speed a rocket needs to reach to establish and maintain orbit–17,500 miles per hour–puts a great amount of stress on the spacecraft. Years ago, when the organization was throwing piles of money at manned space missions, NASA was trying to solve the problem as well. Their experiment, which involved reusable orbiters and rocket boosters, worked to a certain extent, but the machinery needed to make that experiment viable was no less expensive than one-use rockets.

The biggest challenge that SpaceX will face will be in getting their first stage rocket–the piece the shuttle attaches to for lift off–to slow its speed dramatically after releasing the shuttle into orbit. The Grasshopper test run was successful, but for the new rocket to be practical, it will have to be tested at greater speeds, higher altitudes, and longer distances.