Space Exploration Technologies Corp. said it plans to resume launching its Falcon 9 rocket by late November or mid-December, but the announcement raises some unexpected questions and potential reliability issues with the booster.

SpaceX, the closely held company founded and run by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, put out a long-awaited release on Friday setting a six- to eight-week timeline for the Falcon 9’s return to flight, following a June launch failure that destroyed the rocket, its unmanned capsule and more than two tons of supplies destined for the international space station.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which contracted for the unsuccessful launch, are monitoring SpaceX’s investigation to pinpoint the cause of that failure.

The latest schedule, projecting the launch could come as late as mid-December, is somewhat longer than company officials previously had indicated.

But the bigger news was the decision to use the next launch to put 11 small satellites into orbit for Orbcomm Inc., a mission that will allow SpaceX to conduct what it described as an “on-orbit test of the second stage” engine-restart system following deployment of the spacecraft.