To Californians, It Looked Like a UFO. To Elon Musk, Success
- Iridium mission from California launch pad is 18th this year
- Maiden Falcon Heavy flight, crewed capsule test ahead in 2018
A woman photographs the light display of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch.
Photographer: James Quigg/The Daily PressThis article is for subscribers only.
SpaceX’s launch Friday evening of a rocket carrying a batch of satellites into low-earth orbit caps a record year for the closely held company led by Elon Musk.
The mission from California’s central coast was Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s 18th this year. That’s more than any competitor and far exceeds the eight it launched in 2016 before a September explosion grounded the company for the rest of the year while an investigation took place.