SpaceX takes another crack at launching, landing today [Updated]

The Falcon 9 and its Thaicom satellite payload are ready to go. Will Mother Nature cooperate? (credit: SpaceX)

Update: SpaceX did it, successfully delivering its payload and landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket for the third time in a row on an autonomous drone ship. It's safe to say the future has arrived.

A screenshot of the rocket just after it landed on Friday evening. (credit: SpaceX)

Original story: Despite a two-hour window to get off the ground, SpaceX was unable to launch its Falcon 9 rocket this Thursday. According to the company's founder, Elon Musk, the company couldn't conduct the launch due to "a tiny glitch in the motion of an upper stage engine actuator." Better to scrub for 24 hours to investigate the problem and ensure the rocket's readiness, he said.

Whereas the weather was nigh perfect on Thursday, it's a tad less so today. Forecasters anticipate a 60 percent chance of "go" conditions for launch when the two-hour window opens at 5:39pm ET (10:39pm BST). Fresh off two straight launches and unprecedented water landings of its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX will try for its third sea-based landing this evening after it launches a 3,000kg Thaicom communications satellite to a supersynchronous transfer orbit.