Photos: Falcon takes flight

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket climbed into orbit from California’s Central Coast on Saturday, resuming service after an explosive setback last year and delivering much-needed reinforcements to Iridium’s satellite constellation providing communications by land, sea and sky.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket departed Cape Canaveral at 11:36 a.m. EDT (1536 GMT) to deploy the Global Positioning System 2F-10 navigation satellite.

The Israeli company which owned a commercial communications satellite destroyed in an explosion last week at SpaceX’s launch pad in Florida will receive more than $200 million in payouts stemming from the incident, and hopes to purchase a replacement, officials said Monday.