New York (CNN Business) SpaceX on Wednesday launched a trio of satellites for the Canadian government.



The company's Falcon 9 lifted off from a foggy Vandenberg Air Force base in California at 10:17 am ET.

The SpaceX Falcon 9.

The first-stage booster, which gives SpaceX's rocket the initial thrust at liftoff, returned to Vandenberg and made a pinpoint landing on a ground pad about 10 minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX i s the only rocket company that safely lands boosters after launching orbital missions. Its ability to recover boosters is a key selling point, since the company says reusable hardware helps reduce launch costs.

The customer for SpaceX's mission was the Canadian Space Agency: Strapped to the top of the rocker were three satellites for a constellation called RADARSAT that the country uses for taking images of Earth.

Data pulled from the satellites will be used for a variety of information, including monitoring climate change, ice melt and maritime surveillance to help the country's defense force, according to the agency's website . Images taken by the satellites will also help emergency services respond to severe weather situations, such as flooding and earthquakes.