A Falcon 9 rocket carried 88 small satellites into space on Wednesday, then made a rare and resounding landing on dry ground in Florida. SpaceX launched its Transporter-2 rideshare mission from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station around 12:30 p.m. PT (3:30 p.m. ET), and about eight minutes later the first-stage booster from the vehicle touched down not too far away at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone One. Most SpaceX landings happen in the Atlantic Ocean aboard floating droneship platforms, but about once or twice a year the booster will return to land ashore. Coming back to touch down on dry land near the populated Space Coast of Florida means many residents could hear and perhaps even feel the Falcon 9 first stage as it flirted with the sound barrier on its descent, producing multiple sonic booms. This was the 20th Falcon 9 launch of 2021, putting the company well ahead of last year's pace. SpaceX launched 26 missions in all of 2020, which was its most prolific year so far. Sonic boom incoming pic.twitter.com/jWAyA0j5Xx