SpaceX cheers success after safely landing fourth rocket - despite having sent it farther into orbit than the International Space Station

Elon Musk's SpaceX company notched up another victory today when it managed to safely land a rocket for the fourth time - after it had deposited an Asian communications satellite into distant orbit. 

Under blue skies dotted with clouds, with crowds of people watching, the shiny white Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 5:40pm carrying the Thaicom 8 satellite.

The rocket returned to Earth just 10 minutes later, firing its engines and maneuvering with its fins to an upright position on a powered barge, known as a drone ship, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean some 420 miles off the Florida coast.

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Blast-off: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off (pictured) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 5:40pm Friday, carrying a satellite for Asia. But those on the ground were more excited about its landing

Up and away: The rocket was the latest in a series of tests by Elon Musk's company, which hopes to do away with the costly and wasteful practice of dropping rocket parts into the oceans as they take off 

Orbital: The rocket's complete trip was livestreamed, including its trip into space (pictured), where it went higher up than even the International Space Station

SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California erupted in cheers as the rocket touched down.

At first, the live webcast - available for rewatching on YouTube - cut out briefly as the rocket neared the drone ship, then footage returned, showing the scorched but intact rocket standing straight and appearing steady.

'Rocket landing speed was close to design max,' SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter, noting that there was some 'back and forth motion.'

'Prob ok, but some risk of tipping,' he added.

Musk's dry understatement came despite initial doubts as to whether the rocket - which went farther into space than previous attempts - would stick the landing.

SpaceX had initially 'hedged its bets', The Washington Post wrote, saying that 'the first stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing challenging.' 

Those comments were likely influenced by the previous successful landing, which occurred in similar conditions to today's attempt, and saw the rocket slowing from 3,900 miles per hour upon re-entering the atmosphere to just 2.5 miles per hour on landing.

That rocket 'took max damage, due to v high entry velocity,' Musk Tweeted in April - but this time the rocket made it safely back, which is good news for Musk's grand plan. 

At present rocket parts - which can cost millions of dollars - are jettisoned into the ocean after each launch. 

Musk wants to revolutionize the industry by making the components reusable, in much the same way as commercial airplane parts are.

Standing tall: The rocket's safe landing bodes well for SpaceX's plans to make space deliveries more economical

Cheers: The SpaceX team (pictured left) cheered as the rocket (right) made a safe landing on a drone boat in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the fourth successful landing - and the third at sea

This is the third time SpaceX has managed to successfully land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets on water, having landed two during the spring.

It has also succeeded once once on land, when their first successful landing occurred at Cape Canaveral in December.

It's also the second time it has landed a rocket on the ocean platform after a launch to geostationary transfer orbit, which is much further than the low-Earth orbit altitude at which the International Space Station circles the globe.

The high speed and heat involved with the rocket's return make a steady touchdown more challenging than a low-Earth orbit launch.

This launch and landing gets Musk one step closer to an even bigger goal: landing an unmanned capsule on Mars.

SpaceX plans to make that launch in 2018, although the Falcon Heavy rocket that will carry the company's Dragon capsule to the Red Planet won't have its first test flight until later in 2016.

The primary mission of Friday's launch was also a success: the Thaicom 8 satellite, which weighs about 6,600 pounds was deployed as planned.

Built by Orbital ATK, the satellite will provide broadcast and data services to Thailand, India and Africa for a period of 15 years.

Falcon 9 was originally supposed to make the flight Thursday, but the flight was delayed due to a 'tiny glitch' in the rocket's upper stage.

Spectator sport: People gathered to watch the rocket's launch in person as well as online - helped by the beautiful clear weather

Success: The Thaicom 8 satellite (left) was delivered successfully into orbit - good news for SpaceX's CEO, Elon Must (right), who wants to make reusable rockets an everyday fact of life