How to Watch Today’s Rescheduled Historic SpaceX Rocket Launch

A Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX was launched with 5,500 pounds of supplies, experiments, and other cargo headed to the International Space Station. SpaceX also successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral.

Although the company’s countdown on Saturday toward liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Complex 39A proceeded mostly smoothly, SpaceX founder Elon Musk called it off during the last moments.

The liftoff marked a successful debut for SpaceX at Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, originally built for the 1960s-era Apollo moon program and later repurposed for the space shuttles. This weekend was also the first time any spacecraft has launched from the site since NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on it’s final flight in 2011. Shortly afterward, the Dragon spacecraft it was carrying detached as planned from the rocket.

Falcon 9 1st stage, with landing legs deployed, about to land at Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, February 19, 2017. Once the the Dragon reaches its intended orbit, it will slowly make its way toward the ISS over the next two days before it’s captured by the space station’s robotic arm.

The weather was cloudy with low visibility for the launch and landing Sunday, but SpaceX parked a drone in the air near the landing pad to capture the above video that Musk shared on Instagram.

By bringing the boosters back after launches, SpaceX can refurbish them and fly those stages again, greatly reducing the cost of launching to space. This launch was rescheduled to Sunday after being scrubbed on Saturday due to concerns over the rocket’s steering system.

It then returned to earth with a controlled, upright, landing at a different part of the Cape Canaveral base.

NASA conduced a post-launch news conference from the Kennedy Space Center shortly after the launch and hosted it on their website. The company lost a 30th rocket while it was being fueled for a routine prelaunch engine test on September 1.

The Dragon will fly the return flight path on its own as SpaceX and NASA mission controllers watch over its progress.