The first stage of a rocket which placed a Japanese satellite into orbit managed to effect a soft, vertical landing on a barge at sea. This is the second time they’ve done it, showing that the first was no fluke. I don’t quite believe this, but one source says that doing this could reduce the cost of LEO launches by a factor of 100.
An interesting aside is that SpaceX accomplished this before anyone else; before NASA, the Russians, the Japanese or any of the rest. Unbelievable.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/spacex-launch-japanese-satellite-try-rocket-landing-n569101