Photos: SpaceX Launches Cargo Mission, Lands Rocket Again

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises off the pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 18, 2016, carrying the company’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station for NASA.

Composite image showing SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from, and then landing at, Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 18, 2016.

SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule lifts off atop a Falcon 9 rocket on July 18, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sits at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 18, 2016, shortly after touching down.

A close-up view of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage shortly after it touched down on July 18, 2016.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule sit on the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida about an hour before a planned July 18, 2016 liftoff.

SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule deploys successfully in low-Earth orbit on July 18, 2016

The Falcon 9 and Dragon on the pad ahead of a planned July 18, 2016 launch toward the International Space Station.

Technicians and engineers lower the International Docking Adapter into the trunk of SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule.

The International Docking Adapter, which will help future commercial crew vehicles dock with the International Space Station, will launch toward the orbiting lab aboard SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule on July 18, 2016.

Logo of SpaceX’s CRS-9 cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA.

The Biomolecule Sequencer will fly to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft July 18, 2016.

A bone cell research project is among the 2,200 lbs. (1,000 kilograms) of research and science supplies flying to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft July 18, 2016.