SpaceX rocket set to return to flight

The American SpaceX rocket company is hoping to resume flights on Saturday.

It is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 vehicle from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast.

It would be the first mission undertaken by the company since one of its vehicles exploded on the launch pad in September.

The return to operations will see SpaceX start to renew what was the original global handheld satellite phone network, run by Iridium.

Lift-off is timed for 09:54 local time (17:54 GMT).

SpaceX had hoped to get its first Falcon of 2017 up and away a week ago, but stormy weather made that impossible. Saturday's forecast looks far more favourable.

September's launch pad mishap was a spectacular reminder of just how unpredictable rockets can be sometimes.

A Falcon 9 was about to go through a routine engine ignition test when fire ripped through its upper stage, consuming the vehicle and the Amos-6 telecommunications satellite it was due to carry to orbit.

The subsequent investigation pinned the most likely cause of the failure on a design problem in the rocket's helium pressure tanks. But with corrective action SpaceX believes it is now safe to return to service.

On this flight are 10 spacecraft for the Iridium satellite voice and data company. The batch represents the first phase in the roll-out of Iridium's NEXT constellation.

A total of 81 satellites have been ordered from the European manufacturer Thales Alenia Space to completely overhaul the original but now ageing network.

"[Our first constellation] was only supposed to last maybe seven to 10 years and it's been 19, so we've gotten great service out of our current network," Iridium CEO Matt Desch told BBC News.

"But we knew we had to replace it, and when we started this programme in 2010, the clock was ticking. Now, here we are, six years later. The satellites are ready, the rocket's ready and we're ready to start the replacement programme."