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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX's launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with propellant and briefly firing its nine engines on a launch pad in California ahead of this weekend's liftoff with a U.S.-European oceanography satellite.

Offshore barge landing targeted after next Falcon 9 launch
Nearly a month after nailing a landing a rocket landing at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX plans to steer the next flight of a Falcon 9 booster toward a recovery vessel in the Pacific Ocean after a Jan. 17 blastoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Florida spaceport tallies highest launch rate in more than a decade
Cape Canaveral was the departure point for more space launches in 2015 than in any year since 2003, with 17 takeoffs by Atlas, Falcon and Delta rockets hoisting U.S. military satellites, commercial payloads and cargo for the International Space Station.
VideoWhat’s next for SpaceX’s recovered Falcon 9 booster?
SpaceX ground crews at Kennedy Space Center's Apollo-era launch complex 39A are putting the 156-foot-tall Falcon 9 first stage booster that flew to space and back Dec. 21 through a thorough inspection, setting the stage for a hold-down test firing at the launch pad.

Photos: Falcon 9 booster stands upright after landing
SpaceX took a group of reporters and photographers just offshore the Falcon 9 rocket's landing point Tuesday, a day after the 15-story booster made a pinpoint touchdown after helping send 11 communications satellites into orbit.

Round-trip rocket flight gives SpaceX a trifecta of successes
Flying through the sky at supersonic speed, a Falcon 9 rocket stage descended to a historic landing at Cape Canaveral on Monday, returning to the spaceport minutes after boosting 11 Orbcomm communications satellites toward orbit on SpaceX’s first mission since a major failure in June.

Q&A with Elon Musk after SpaceX’s first rocket landing
SpaceX's billionaire founder and chief executive Elon Musk spoke with reporters just after successfully landing a Falcon 9 booster for the first time.
VideoFrom all angles: Up and down with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster
Relive the experience with imagery from Monday night's blazing blastoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and its historic, dramatic landing at Cape Canaveral.

Falcon 9 launch timeline with Orbcomm satellites
Track the progress of the launch and landing of SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket carrying 11 Orbcomm message relay satellites with this timeline of major events in the flight sequence.

Falcon 9’s return-to-flight launch delayed 24 hours
SpaceX called off a try Sunday to launch a package of Orbcomm communications satellites from Cape Canaveral, eyeing a better chance to land the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage booster Monday, according to Elon Musk, the company's billionaire founder.