SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHES, LANDS SMOOTHLY IN CALIF.

SpaceX has launched a Falcon 9 rocket for the first time since a fireball engulfed a similar rocket on a Florida launch pad more than four months ago.

The two- stage rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Saturday morning to place 10 satellites into orbit. About eight minutes later, the rocket’s first- stage booster flew down from the edge of space to a modified barge in the Pacific Ocean, touching down softly on four landing legs on an “X” painted on the deck. The booster is the seventh that SpaceX has recovered since late 2015.

— James Dean, Florida Today