TESS launch replay from launch pad camera

A Falcon 9 rocket launching an Argentine Earth-observing satellite streaked across the skies of Southern California on Sunday night, then its booster stage returned to Vandenberg Air Force Base for an on-target landing, the first by SpaceX on the West Coast.

NASA has directed Boeing and SpaceX to halt activities under contracts awarded last month to build commercial space taxis to ferry astronauts to the Space Station while the U.S. Government Accountability Office reviews a protest of NASA’s decision filed by Sierra Nevada.

SpaceX’s fifth launch for Iridium’s upgraded mobile communications network occurred at 7:13 a.m. PDT (10:13 a.m. EDT; 1413 GMT) Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Falcon 9 rocket flew with a reused first stage, but SpaceX did not intend to recover the booster after Friday’s launch.