And all went perfectly...

[birguslatro]

"Falcon 9 First Stage Landing | From Helicopter" (Watch on YouTube)

And it seems I was wrong about the first stage needing an orbit to get back to Cape Canaveral. Which makes sense, as it's quite a big thing to put into orbit. :) Also, in the full broadcast they mentioned they'll still be using the barge for some landings. Not to mention that the Falcon's now 33% more powerful.

That's such a history-making event. Assuming they can reuse the various stages, getting into space is now way cheaper. Couple it with Bigelow's space habitats, and we should finally be a real space-faring species by the end of the decade.

Edit: And the landing as seen from mission control...

"SpaceX 12-21-15 FIRST EVER SUCCESSFUL FALCON 9 ROCKET LANDING" (Watch on YouTube)

They know what they've achieved.