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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite SAOCOM 1A launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. at 7:21 pm PDT.
SpaceX completed the first landing of the Falcon 9 rocket at Landing Zone 4, which was previously called SLC-4W, at Vandenberg AFB.
This was SpaceX's first land landing attempt at Vandenberg AFB.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CA, UNITED STATES
07/10/2018
Video by Senior Airman Latonya Kim
30th Space Wing Public Affairs
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with an Argentinian Earth-observation satellite into space and a first-stage booster at its California launch site.
The primary purpose of the mission was to place the SAOCOM 1A satellite into orbit, but SpaceX also wanted to expand its Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.
SpaceX had previously flown first-stage rockets back to land after Florida launches but had not done so on the West Coast.
The Air Force last week advised residents on the central California coast they could see multiple engine burns by the first stage and hear one or more sonic booms as it returned.
SpaceX also has successfully landed Falcon 9 first courses on so-called drone ships off the coasts of Florida and California, all of its efforts to decrease the cost of space launches by reusing rockets rather than allowing them to fall into the ocean.
The satellite is the first of two for Argentina's space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, and will work in conjunction with a constellation of Italian space satellite agency. Its name is for Satelite Argentino de Observacion Con Microondas.
SAOCOM 1A carries a high-resolution instrument called a synthetic radar overview that will be used for emergency management during disasters and for land monitoring. The second satellite will be SAOCOM 1B.
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-rocket-argentinian-satellite-successfully.html#jCp
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