Video: Saturday’s SpaceX launch

For the final time, a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule was released from the International Space Station’s robotic arm Tuesday and splashed down hours later in Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles. Beginning later this year, SpaceX will fly upgraded Dragon freighters that will dock automatically with the space station and parachute into the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida.

Watch a time lapse replay of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it was raised upright at launch pad 39A in Florida on Saturday, a day before its scheduled launch with a top secret payload for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

After a lull in launch activity this fall, SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral are preparing for up to four Falcon 9 missions in December to close out 2019 with a surge of launches.