Loudly rattling windows to provide an early morning wakeup call, the first of three National Reconnaissance Office missions planned in a week blasted off early Saturday from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The SpaceX rocket rumbled away from Santa Barbara County at 5:25 a.m., and the first-stage booster successfully touched down on the droneship about eight minutes later for its 24th launch and landing.
Departure times for rockets depend upon where the payload needs to be placed in space…