Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX test fires the Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday, Mar. 9 in preparation for the commercial satellite launch sometime this month. Elon Musk's private spaceship company also plans to launch a reused rocket for the very first time to bring down space-travel costs for customers and future missions.

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SpaceX conducted the Falcon 9 test fire on the Launch Pad 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape, Canaveral, Florida to ensure that the rocket will be ready. The company is set on launching the communications satellite EchoStar 23 on Mar. 14 and SpaceflightNow was at the site to capture the test fire on video. Preflight checks are implemented as a standard operating procedure for every SpaceX launch.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president, and COO, says that using Falcon 9 rockets with pre-flown first stages will enable SpaceX to execute on its backlog, which is currently loaded with customers that expected to have their satellites launched. "We do anticipate reflying about six vehicles, [with] pre-flown boosters this year, which should take some of the pressure off of production," he said in the Satellite 2017 press conference.

SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk clarifies on twitter that the EchoStar 23 launch won't include the Falcon 9 booster due to the weight of the satellite and the altitude of its final geostationary transfer orbit. SpaceX has previously landed Falcon 9 rocket stages during eight of its most recent missions that include the Feb. 19 launch of a Dragon spacecraft, which carried the NASA cargo to the International Space Station.

Notably, the spaceship company made history in December 2015 when it landed a Falcon 9 booster launched on a pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Rocket boosters have become a routine for SpaceX and it aims in re-flying the 14-story-tall booster in its next endeavors. SpaceX intends to conduct six Falcon 9 missions this year.

However, instead of a new one, Shotwell says SpaceX plans on re-using a Falcon 9 rocket for another planned satellite launch from Luxembourg's SES SA into orbit. He sees rapid reusability as key to driving down costs in the spaceship industry. Jeff Bezos, founder of SpaceX competitor Blue Origin LLC agrees on reusability for future space travel and urges other companies to adopt the same business model as that of commercial airlines.

"If the airline throws it away at the end of every trip, very few people are going to be able to afford to take that vacation," Bezos said in the same conference. Relaunching a rocket that has already delivered spacecraft to orbit and returned to Earth is a critical milestone for SpaceX as it catches up with its delayed launches.