Falcon 9

Live coverage: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from California

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force in California at 6:13 a.m. PDT (9:13 a.m. EDT; 1313 GMT) Sunday with a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency. The Falcon 9 booster returned to a vertical landing back at Vandenberg about eight minutes later. SpaceX delayed the launch from Friday due to a technical issue, then decided to skip a launch opportunity Saturday because of unfavorable upper level winds.