(Image source from: Free Press Journal)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday carried an Argentinian Earth-observation satellite into space and for the first time landed a first-stage booster back at its California launch site.

The primary aim of the mission was to place the SAOCOM 1A satellite into orbit, but SpaceX as well wanted to spread out its recovery of first stages to its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, around 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Earlier, SpaceX had flown first-stage rockets back to land after Florida launches but had not done so on the West Coast.

The residents of California's central coast earlier this week were informed by Air Force that they might see multiple engine burns by the first stage and hear one or more sonic roars as it returned.

SpaceX as well as with success landed Falcon 9 first stages on alleged drone ships off the coasts of Florida and California, all as part of its attempt to drop-off the cost of space launches by reusing rockets instead letting them fall into the ocean.

The satellite is the first of two for Argentina's space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, and will work in conjunction with a constellation of Italian space agency satellites. Its name is short for Satelite Argentino de Observacion Con Microondas.

SAOCOM 1A carries a high-resolution instrument named a synthetic aperture radar that will be utilized for crisis management at the time of disasters and for land monitoring. The second satellite will be SAOCOM 1B.

-Sowmya Sangam