Q&A with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX (members only)

A Japanese communications satellite rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Cape Canaveral early Friday, reaching an on-target orbit as the launcher’s first stage booster nailed a high-speed landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, logging another achievement for SpaceX’s cost-cutting reuse initiative.

SpaceX this week released a new batch of photos showing the Feb. 6 liftoff of the company’s first Falcon Heavy rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, followed by landing of the launcher’s two side boosters around eight minutes later at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

For the second night running SpaceX scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation satellite for Italy.