Watch the Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship caught up with the International Space Station early Monday and then stood by while Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, operating the lab’s robot arm, locked onto the spacecraft to wrap up a two-day rendezvous.

The mission, dubbed Tranche 1 Transporter Layer C, will add another 21 satellites into the burgeoning constellation for the Space Development Agency. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 4:06 p.m. PDT (7:06 p.m. EDT / 2306 UTC).

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from launch pad 39A, a historic facility under lease from NASA, and delivered to orbit an uncrewed supply ship heading for the International Space Station. The first stage booster returned to a landing at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first such recovery on land in daylight.