THE FUTURE

SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 9 Rocket

From NASA launchpad in Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket from a NASA launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. It took off for the International Space Station from the same pad used by NASA’s historic Apollo missions, carrying a Dragon cargo shipment. The rocket’s first stage also landed successfully at Landing Zone 1 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Dragon capsule is due to arrive at the ISS on Tuesday. “Baby come back,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Instagram Sunday morning with a picture of the rocket. The launch was initially scheduled for Saturday but was aborted 13 seconds before the planned takeoff. The company later explained that it needed to “take a closer look at positioning of the second stage engine nozzle.”