VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, United States (Reuters) – SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sunday (June 25) carrying 10 communications satellites to low-Earth orbit, the company said on its website.
“This is the second set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch,” it said in a statement. The launch is for Iridium, a provider of voice and data communications.
The launch used a orbital-class booster which was recycled and landed safely on a ‘droneship’ in the Pacific Ocean.
It took SpaceX 15 years to demonstrate that a rocket typically discarded in the ocean after a single flight could be recovered and reused.