President-elect Trump watched the launch from Texas. It happened just before sunset on Tuesday.
SpaceX conducted its fifth launch of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Spread Architecture from California on Saturday.
NRO, in partnership with the U.S. Space Force's Space Launch Delta 30 and SpaceX, announced the successful launch of the NROL-126 mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
It happened at 3:10 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
“This mission is the fifth launch of NRO's dispersion architecture and demonstrates the efficiency of this program's in-orbit delivery,” NRO said in a statement. “Today's mission success follows the Oct. 24 launch of NROL-167 and the continued pace of deployment continues to diversify NRO's operational satellite fleet.”
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On November 18, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying the GSAT-20 satellite for New Space India. (Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via / Getty Images)
“For more than 60 years, NRO has served the needs of America's intelligence, military, civilian and alliance partners. It continues to be a world leader in unique intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems,” the statement said. “NRO's next-generation systems will help us reliably deliver the right data to the right users at the right time, faster than ever before. Approximately six launches supporting NRO's popular architecture will be launched in 2024. 2020, with additional launches planned for 2028.” ”
In addition to the NRO's NROL-126 mission, SpaceX announced that its Falcon 9 rocket also placed 20 Starlink satellites into orbit.
SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, said on X that this represented “the 100th successful launch from Pad 4E in California.”
On October 14, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center and heads for Jupiter carrying NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. (Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via / Getty Images)
SpaceX had already delivered four batches of NRO satellites, manufactured by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, into low Earth orbit in May, June, September and October, according to SpaceNews.com. Saturday's launch marked the first time an unspecified number of government satellites and 20 Starlink internet satellites participated in the NROL-126 mission.
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This was also the first flight using the Falcon 9's first-stage booster, and it landed safely on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff, Space News reported.
A live broadcast of the launch was not available, according to space newsa live feed became available just before the main engine stopped.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center and heads for Jupiter, carrying NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. (Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“This mission continues NRO's cutting-edge ability to build and develop the largest constellation of satellites in U.S. government history to deliver critical information that can only be obtained from vantage points in space.” A woman's voice can be heard narrating in the video clip. Feed shared by X.
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The NRO, which designs and operates classified surveillance and intelligence satellites for the U.S. government, is working to quickly deploy “a new satellite network designed to track ground targets in near real time,” according to Space News. .
