Watch SpaceX launch and land a reused Falcon 9 rocket

This mission is called BulgariaSat-1 and will carry Bulgaria’s first geostationary communications satellite into a high geostationary orbit around the Earth. It’s launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and a drone ship called “Of Course I Still Love You” will be waiting in the Atlantic Ocean for the Falcon 9’s first-stage landing. If things don’t go as planned, there’s another launch window tomorrow at 2:10 PM ET.

This isn’t the only SpaceX launch that’s happening this weekend, though. On Sunday, a Falcon 9 will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying 10 satellites for the company Iridium. Liftoff is set for 1:25 PM PT, and the company will once again attempt to land the first stage of the rocket.

It’s not the first time SpaceX has flown and landed a flight-proven rocket; that happened on March 30. But rockets are the most expensive part of spaceflight; by reusing Falcon 9 first stages, SpaceX is cutting costs considerably. Reusable components are crucial to the future of human spaceflight, and SpaceX is certainly making steady and significant improvements in that regard.

Update, 6/23/2017, 1:05 PM: SpaceX tweeted that the ground team is taking additional time for checks. New liftoff time is 3:10 PM ET.

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