SpaceX Launch Photos: See The Latest Falcon 9 Launches

Last weekend SpaceX was aiming for an ambitious 48 hours filled with two launches. The company's founder, Elon Musk, tweeted about the goal but the plan didn't quite stick. The first launch ended up postponed causing SpaceX to miss the 48-hour window for the two launches, but the launches weren’t any less picture perfect despite the slight schedule change.

The first SpaceX launch that the company conducted this week was the third Iridium launch of satellites for the company. The Falcon 9 used for the mission launched 10 Iridium satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

By Sunday evening the rocket was in place with the satellites on top of it for the Monday launch. The plan was to launch the satellites and then recover the first stage of the rocket. The view of the rocket in the moon's light made for a picturesque pre-launch photo.

The launch went smoothly in the early morning hours at the base on Monday. The rocket launched at 8:37 a.m. EDT. The launch got 10 satellites into orbit, SpaceX is contracted to launch 75 of these communication satellites for Iridium and with Monday's launch has successfully put 30 into orbit. The company is using the low-Earth orbiting satellites to replace older ones that needed upgrading. After the launch and deployment of the satellites the first stage of the rocket then entered Earth's atmosphere again and landed upright on the drone ship “Just Read The Instructions.”

The second launch SpaceX conducted in a matter of days occurred on Wednesday evening. That launch was from the historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket that had previously been used twice before for this launch of an EchoStar communications satellite. The satellite will expand communications over North America especially in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean.

The launch took place at 6:55 p.m. EDT on Wednesday and the satellite deployed 36 minutes later. Following launch the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket separated and went through a successful re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere before landing upright on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”

The launch happened at the right time for beautiful photos. The pink clouds surrounding the rocket as it launched to space. SpaceX is aiming to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket some time next month for the first time ever. The photos from that launch will likely be just as spectacular.