A couple of major milestones in NewSpace last week.

On Friday, SpaceX launched the THAICOM-8 communications satellite with a Falcon 9 rocket. After separating from the second stage, the first stage booster of the Falcon returned to earth for a successful landing on the platform of a special ship that maintains a fixed position autonomously. This is the third successful booster landing at sea. (There was also a successful booster return for a landing on the ground at Cape Canaveral last December.)

Here is a sped-up video from a camera attached to the first stage:

This video shows the launch of the Falcon rocket:

And on Saturday, Bigelow Aerospace‘s Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which was delivered to the Int. Space Station in April via a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, was successfully expanded to its full volume: