SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from Cape Canaveral with the U.S. Space Force’s newest third-generation Global Positioning System navigation satellite, helping clear the way for the launch of SpaceX’s first operational Crew Dragon astronaut mission later this month.

SpaceX is set to resume launches from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral in December with the liftoff of a space station-bound supply ship on top of a Falcon 9 booster, a major step in boosting the company’s flight rate and readying for the debut of the long-delayed Falcon Heavy rocket.

It was the first failure of a Falcon 9 rocket in flight since 2015. Liftoff occurred at 7:35 p.m. PDT (10:35 p.m. EDT, 0235 UTC) from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.