SpaceX Falcon 9 USSF mission launches

(NBC) - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Thursday to deliver a new weather satellite into orbit.

Thursday's mission called USSF-62 is carrying the weather system follow-on, microwave satellite into low earth orbit.

That satellite, "will provide critical and actionable weather intelligence to military operations in all warfighting domains," according to b-a-e systems, that developed and built the spacecraft."

After the launch, the first stage returned to Earth at a landing zone on the space force base.

This was the third launch and landing for this specific booster.

Thursday's launch was the 37th for SpaceX this year.