SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket arrives at Port Canaveral

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Friday has returned to the Space Coast. SpaceX confirmed the booster's early morning Tuesday arrival at Port Canaveral on its official Twitter and Instagram accounts around 2:30 a.m. In a photo, the charred first stage of the rocket stands tall on the "Of Course I Still Love You" autonomous ship near the port's 273-foot-tall cranes. A crane will lift the 14-story rocket stage off the boat onto a stand, before it is transported to a hangar at Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The operation's exact timeframe is unclear, but the stage probably will be at the port for at least Tuesday before it is moved. If the rocket stage is deemed in good enough condition after inspections and multiple test firings of its nine Merlin 1D engines, CEO Elon Musk said SpaceX could try to launch it again as soon as June.