SpaceX launches 10 satellites aboard Falcon 9 rocket

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 satellites was launched into orbit Saturday morning and landed its first-stage booster on a drone ship in its first launch since a September explosion.

The first-stage booster landed on a floating platform called “Just Read the Instructions” in the Pacific Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff.

Analysts had described Saturday’s launch from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base as “all-important” for the California company to re-establish customer confidence after a Sept. 1 launch-pad explosion in Florida destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and a commercial communications satellite perched on top.

The explosion occurred while propellant was being loaded into the rocket.

An investigation led by SpaceX and assisted by the U.S. Air Force, NASA, the National Transportation Safety Board and industry experts, with oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration, concluded that the cause was a faulty lining in a pressurized vessel used for fueling.

The FAA said last week that it accepted the accident report and closed the investigation.

A few weeks after the explosion, SpaceX said it expected to return to flight as soon as November. But that date slipped to December and then January, as the investigation continued.

The company had been planning to launch on Jan. 8, but the date was pushed back to Monday. The launch then was rescheduled for Saturday because of bad weather.