It's become routine to see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blast off from Cape Canveral in Florida and then watch the first-stage booster come back for a soft landing aboard an autonomous droneship far off shore in the Atlantic Ocean. But the company's next mission features the rare return of a Falcon 9 directly to dry land. Liftoff is currently set for 4:19 p.m. PT Thursday and we should see the first-stage rocket return to Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) , which is only about 7 miles from the launch pad, a little less than 10 minutes after blast-off.