A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sunday afternoon, carrying 10 communications satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications.

About seven minutes later the rocket’s first-stage booster made its way back to Earth, successfully landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had warned the floating platform had to be moved due to “extreme weather”.

He tweeted afterwards: “New titanium grid fins worked even better than expected. Should be capable of an indefinite number of flights with no service.”

Mr Musk also posted a sped up video of the rocket landing on Instagram.

The mission followed a successful Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Friday, boosting a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit.

Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Sunday’s rocket was a brand new one, while on Friday a refurbished booster was used.

Mr Musk has said he wants to reuse multimillion dollar components instead of jettisoning them in the ocean after launch to reduce his company’s costs eventually by up to a third.

The company, which was founded by the billionaire, made history in March when it launched and retrieved a rocket which had successfully returned after a previous launch.