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Telecomunicaciones y tecnología

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off on first flight since June accident


    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from its Florida launch pad on Monday with a payload of communications satellites, marking the company's first flight since a June accident that destroyed a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

    The upgraded 23-story-tall rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at about 8:30 p.m. EST/0133 GMT on a satellite-delivery mission for customer ORBCOMM and a test flight of a booster rocket return-and-landing system.

    A smooth mission would provide a major boost to privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, the California-based company founded and operated by high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

    (Reporting by Joe Skipper at Cape Canaveral; Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Mary Milliken)