SpaceX continues to keep busy.
One of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base tonight (Sept. 5) at 11:20 p.m. EDT (8:20 p.m. local California time; 0320 GMT on Sept. 6 ), sending a batch of next-gen spy satellites aloft for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
It was SpaceX’s second launch of the day; another Falcon 9 delivered 21 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida’s Space Coast this morning.
The Falcon 9 aced its landing during tonight’s mission, which the NRO called NROL-113. About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster settled down softly on the deck of the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
It was the 20th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Fourteen of those flights have been Starlink missions.
NROL-113 was the third launch servicing the NRO’s “proliferated architecture,” a new network consisting of “numerous, smaller satellites designed for capability and resilience,” the agency wrote in a mission description. SpaceX also launched the first two missions in the series — NROL-146 in May and NROL-186 in June.
We don’t know much about the proliferated architecture satellites or what they’re doing in orbit; their missions and activities are classified, like those of most NRO craft. (The agency operates the nation’s fleet of spy satellites.)
Related: SpaceX launches next-gen US spy satellites and sticks the landing (video)
SpaceX has now launched 86 orbital missions in 2024, about 70% of which have been Starlink flights.
As today’s doubleheader shows, the company is back up to full speed following two hiccups this summer. SpaceX stood down for about two weeks following a Falcon 9 upper-stage failure during a July 11 Starlink launch. And it went three days without flying after a failed booster landing during an otherwise successful Starlink mission on Aug. 28.
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