Rocket Lab says the first stage of its Electron launcher splashed down under parachute in the Pacific Ocean off New Zealand after firing into space with 30 small satellites Thursday, becoming only the second private company to return an orbital-class booster to Earth intact.

Suspended under a circular parachute, the carbon composite booster stage descended to a splashdown a few hundred miles downrange from Rocket Lab’s launch base in New Zealand, according to Rocket Lab.

The successful splashdown of the Electron’s first stage moved California-based Rocket Lab closer to reusing rocket boosters, which the company says will allow it to launch missions at a faster cadence, and potentially cut costs.

“What the team achieved today in recovering Electron’s first stage is no mean feat,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, in a statement.

But Beck said before the launch that Rocket Lab would initially try recovering Electron boosters from the sea.

Designed to haul small satellites into orbit, the privately-developed Electron rocket has flown 16 times, including Thursday’s mission.

But this launch, which Rocket Lab nicknamed “Return to Sender” in a nod to the recovery attempt, was the first time an Electron rocket flew with parachutes to attempt a full series of descent maneuvers.

Liftoff of Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher, making strides toward reusability while serving customers in the United States, France, and New Zealand.https://t.co/jmkTwAj679 pic.twitter.com/GZAqOjWmA3.

Nine kerosene Rutherford engines on the Electron first stage propelled the nearly 60-foot-tall (18-meter) rocket toward the south from the launch base.

Meanwhile, thrusters on the first stage flipped the 40-foot-long (12-meter) booster around 180 degrees to fly engines first, configuring the rocket for re-entry back into the atmosphere.

Beck said before the mission that the company did not expect any significant damage to the rocket from the splashdown, “other than everything getting wet.”.

Rocket Lab’s live video stream from the booster cut out as it began re-entry, but the company quickly confirmed that the rocket unfurled its parachutes and reached the sea as designed.

Rocket Lab’s offshore team planned to place flotation aids around the booster, then install a collar before lifting the rocket by crane onto the recovery ship.

Beck said the company is taking an incremental approach to proving out its ability to recover and reuse Electron rocket boosters.

The first stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher has shut down and jettisoned to begin its descent toward the Pacific Ocean for today’s recovery attempt.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is much larger than Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle, with enough performance margin for engineers to reserve propellant for propulsive landing maneuvers during mid-air restarts of the Falcon 9’s main engines.

Beck said the addition of recovery hardware takes away about 7.5% of the Electron rocket’s overall launch capacity to sun-synchronous orbit.

The main goal of the Rocket Lab’s reuse program is to increase the company’s launch rate, but Beck said the initiative could also cut prices lower than the company’s already low figures.

“We’ve seen the cost of dedicated small launch come from anywhere from $50 million to $30 million for a Pegasus or a Minotaur (rocket) down to $7 million for a Rocket Lab vehicle,” Beck said.

If Rocket Lab is successful with reusing its boosters, “I think we’ll see a dramatic change in pricing again,” Beck said.

Two of the spacecraft on the Electron launch were built by Millennium Space Systems, a subsidiary of Boeing, for a mission named DragRacer to test a drag-inducing device that could help small satellites in low Earth orbit naturally decay, or re-enter the atmosphere.

The two DragRacer satellites have a combined weight of around 55 pounds, or 25 kilograms, according to TriSept Corp., a partner on the DragRacer mission overseeing the integration of the satellites on the Rocket Lab launcher.

The two DragRacer satellites have a combined weight of around 55 pounds, or 25 kilograms, according to TriSept Corp., a partner on the DragRacer mission overseeing the integration of the satellites on the Rocket Lab launcher!

New Zealand’s first satellite designed and built by university satellites also rode into orbit on the Electron rocket

Photos: Four astronauts launch aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

Rocket Lab recovers booster after launch with 30 small satellites

Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches Electron, booster parachutes into sea