Last flight of the Titan

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:39 a.m. PDT (7:39 a.m. EDT; 1139 GMT) Wednesday, and SpaceX successfully landed the rocket’s first stage on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean. The mission’s primary objective is the deployment of 10 Iridium Next communications satellites into low Earth orbit.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Central Coast at 10:42:18 a.m. PST (1:42:18 p.m. EST; 1842:18 GMT) Sunday with the Jason 3 oceanography satellite. A secondary objective of the mission to recover the first stage on a barge in the Pacific Ocean failed.

Views of the Dec. 12 launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from up-close remote cameras placed near the booster’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.