SpaceX achieves mission success with launch of next-gen spy satellites

On the night of September 5th to 6th, one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets was launched. It carried a batch of next-generation spy satellites into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office's activities.

On 6th September at 23:20 GMT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Its mission was to carry a batch of next-generation spy satellites into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office.

This was the second Falcon 9 launch within 24 hours. Another model of this rocket had placed 21 Starlink satellites into orbit. Approximately 8 minutes after the launch, during the mission designated as NROL-113, the Falcon landed on the autonomous ship "Of Course I Still Love You," stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX claims that this was the twentieth launch and landing of this particular booster. Fourteen of the flights were conducted for the Starlink project missions. NROL-113 was the third launch supporting the NRO's distributed architecture, which is a network consisting of numerous smaller satellites. Little is known about their function in orbit – their operations are classified.

In 2024, SpaceX conducted 86 orbital missions, 70% of which were flights for the Starlink missions. Today's launches mark SpaceX's return to regular operations. According to space.com, there were major mishaps earlier this summer – on 11th July, a failure during a Starlink project launch prevented the company from conducting launches for about two weeks. Additionally, after a failed booster landing on 28th August, launches had to be halted for three days.