2017 has been a banner year for SpaceX, and this morning, the spaceflight
company added to their success by launching their 14th Falcon 9 rocket of
the year.

The SpaceX rocket launch took place at Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California with a payload of 10 Iridium satellites bound for orbit. The
Falcon 9’s first-stage rocket booster was recovered shortly after the
launch, landing safely on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone ship in the Pacific.

This marked the third mission SpaceX has undertaken for the satellite
company. More launches are on the way to complete Iridium’s NEXT satellite network, which will cover the entire surface of Earth using low-Earth orbit satellites.

SpaceX rocket launch
Image Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX plans to attempt another Falcon 9 launch on October 11. This SpaceX rocket launch, a joint venture with EchoStar and SES, will take place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will utilize a refurbished Falcon 9 first stage.

If successful, the October 11 launch will be another example of SpaceX’s
ability to operate missions in quick succession, which will help to lower
costs and continue to boost accessibility to space.

SpaceX has a total of eight more planned missions anticipated before the endof the year.