Photos: Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Vandenberg

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rolled out to its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Monday, one day before its scheduled liftoff carrying seven satellites into orbit on commercial communications and climate research missions.

These photos show the Falcon 9 rocket, standing more than 20 stories tall, at Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 4-East launch pad. Some of the photos were taken before the Falcon 9 was lifted vertical on its launch mount at the military base on California’s Central Coast.

The rocket, sporting a previously-flown first stage first used on a Jan. 7 launch in Florida, will loft five Iridium communications satellites and two follow-on research craft to the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

For details on the launch, see our Mission Status Center.

Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Credit: SpaceX
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.