Kenya’s first operational satellite was launched into orbit on Saturday by a SpaceX rocket that took off from California, USA, according to images from the US space company.

The launch, originally scheduled for Monday night in the United States, was postponed several times this week due to bad weather.

On Saturday, a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket took off at 0648 GMT from the base at Vandenberg, California, before deploying several dozen satellites an hour later, including the Kenyan Taifa-1 (“Nation-1”, in the Swahili language).

Designed and developed by a team of Kenyan researchers, the satellite is intended to provide data for agriculture and environmental monitoring in Kenya, much needed in the East African country which is currently experiencing a historic drought.