SpaceX is free to fly—will attempt a launch Saturday from California [Updated]

Enlarge / SpaceX successfully launched the THAICOM 6 satellite in January 2014, aboard its Falcon 9 rocket. (credit: SpaceX)

Update: Due to forecasts of heavy rains in California this week, Iridium Chief Executive Matt Desch said the launch has been postponed until Saturday, Jan. 14th. at 12:54pm ET.

Original Story: The Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch license to SpaceX on Friday. The company's Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California. This license formally grants SpaceX permission to return to flight after a September 1 accident that led to a total loss of the rocket and its satellite payload. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has already said the rocket is ready, having completed its static firing test on Thursday. The FAA has also licensed six additional flights for SpaceX out of Vandenberg.

SpaceX will be launching 10 Iridium NEXT satellites for its return-to-flight mission. According to Virginia-based Iridium Communications, SpaceX will attempt a launch on Monday, January 9, if weather permits. Monday's proposed flight would complete a remarkably short turnaround from September's accident, in which one of three composite overwrapped pressure vessels inside the rocket's second stage liquid oxygen tank failed.