SpaceX successfully launches, lands Falcon 9 rocket

SpaceX successfully launched and landed a Falcon 9 rocket Friday, the first of two launches this weekend.

The company is launching two Falcon 9 rockets — one from Kennedy Space Center and the other from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It’s the first time SpaceX has attempted two rocket launches in such a short period of time.

From the Space Coast, SpaceX launched Bulgaria’s first geostationary communications satellite from historic Launch Complex 39A. BulgariaSat-1 will provide television services for Bulgaria and eastern Europe.

Friday’s launch window initally was set to open at 2:10 p.m., but SpaceX pushed it back to 3:10 p.m. early in the afternoon.

The rocket taking off from the Kennedy Space Center has actually flown before, in January. It was refurbished and used in Friday’s launch.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted before launch that the “Falcon 9 would experience its highest ever reentry force and heat in today’s launch. Good chance the rocket booster doesn’t make it back.”

Despite the lack of confidence, the booster landed successfully, nearly hitting the bull’s-eye on the drone ship deck.

Then on Sunday, another SpaceX rocket will launch 10 communications satellites for a company called Iridium in California. That launch is set for 4:25 p.m. ET.

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 5:39 PM with the headline "SpaceX successfully launches, lands Falcon 9 rocket."