(Trends Wide) — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has successfully re-launched a US spy satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the company said.
The Falcon 9 was developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to be the first orbital-class rocket capable of launching multiple missions, as a way to cut costs, and SpaceX made history in 2017 by launching the same rocket a second time.
The rocket used in Sunday’s launch of a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) security payload was the same one that launched an NRO payload in February, according to the bureau.
SpaceX has reused boosters and spacecraft dozens of times in satellite and cargo launches, but last year it used reused hardware for a mission that included astronauts, the first time the company had done so on a crewed mission.
Trends Wide’s Jackie Wattles contributed to this report.
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