SpaceX launched 10 satellites to orbit today (Jan. 14) in a rousing return-to-flight mission that also included a rocket landing on a ship at sea.
SpaceX's two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from a launch pad just a few hundred meters from the scenic California coastline here today at 12:54 p.m. EST (1754 GMT; 9:54 a.m. local California time), carrying 10 communications satellites to low-Earth orbit for the Virginia-based company Iridium. After a week of heavy rain and strong winds, only a few clouds obscured the view of the rocket as it climbed skyward.

Not all of today's action was in the skyward direction. A few minutes after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage separated from the upper stage, then headed back down to Earth to attempt a touchdown on "Just Read the Instructions," one of SpaceX's two robotic "drone ships," which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

The rocket stuck the landing eight minutes after lifting off. SpaceX has now pulled off seven such touchdowns during orbital launches, with five coming on drone ships and two rockets flying back to their launch sites on terra firma.