The onboard video camera is a powerful tool, because it allows us to witness firsthand the seeming absurdity of the situation: you're so high up that the Earth'

The onboard video camera is a powerful tool, because it allows us to witness firsthand the seeming absurdity of the situation: you're so high up that the Earth's curvature is very pronounced and you can see to the far edges of the state, and yet you flip around, do some microcorrections, but largely fall back down in what we'd commonly perceive to be an uncontrolled descent: and yet you land perfectly on a small structure towed out into a spot in the middle of the ocean. Sure, we can use analogies to explain how extraordinary this feat is, or visualizations, but seeing the actual video feed, let alone live (just ask sport viewers why they have a stronger emotional response), as the vehicle is shaking, the engine is still firing and nothing in particular seems to suggest that a clean landing will follow -- and yet it does. This is a great achievement but they've landed these before. But with the landing shown live for the first time from the first stage, the innovation of today is that they've communicated their incredible feat in a tangible way that elicits a strong, visceral emotional response. I wouldn't be surprised if years down the road, this particular footage will be considered mandatory to archive, being significant to human history the same way footage from the moon was.