Video: Falcon 9 rocket’s flight from liftoff to orbit

Returning home from more than a month in orbit, a SpaceX Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station and parachuted into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday with nearly two tons of research specimens and hardware, including mice sent up to investigate how spaceflight affects eyesight and locomotion.

SpaceX hoisted its Falcon 9 rocket upright Sunday evening, hours before launching on a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Technicians installed time-sensitive supplies into the Dragon cargo capsule earlier in the day.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sporting a fresh cleaning and several refurbishments took off Thursday from a seaside launch pad in Florida to send an SES communications satellite into space, then landed on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean to repeat a feat the same booster achieved nearly one year ago.