Aerospace company SpaceX’s thrilling videos of rocket launches and landings have already gathered a fair amount of fuel in the past year, but as any keen viewer will tell you, the closer, the better; more, the merrier.

The latest video scores high on jaw-dropping close-up visuals as the drama unfolds in a grey-blue sky, with the booster detaching, a glorious ring of fire bursting forth, engines slowing down...and a most breathtaking, graceful landing.

SpaceX’s celebrity CEO Elon Musk’s Instagram post said as much: “...close-up of rocket stage separation, fast flip, boostback burn in a ring of fire and then landing burn”.

This was reportedly the first mission SpaceX took on for the US military, which makes access to any other information about the secret spy satellite mission, dubbed NROL-76, close to nil. But the video sort of makes up for all the hushed up details.