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 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 end of the year.
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