SpaceX launched a pioneering constellation of spy satellites for the US government early Wednesday morning (May 22).
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) NROL-146 mission into space after launching from Space Force Base Vandenberg in California at 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT; 1 a.m. local California time).
We don’t know much about the payloads sent into space as part of NROL-146, which is not a surprising mission; The NRO typically discloses little about the activities and capabilities of its satellites. For the same reason, no footage of the separation stages of the Falcon 9 rocket has been shown.[artoftheNROL-146missionwhichisn’tsurprising;theNROtypicallyrevealslittleaboutitssatellites’activitiesandcapabilitiesForthesamereasontherewasnofootageofthestagesoftheFalcon9rocketseperating
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About six minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage began its reentry and return to Earth.
The first stage landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship stationed in the Pacific Ocean about nine minutes after launch. This was the 16th launch and landing of a Falcon 9 first stage rocket.
in Task description, NRO states that NROL-146 will be “the first launch of NRO’s deployed architecture.” The agency explains more about this structure when discussing the mission slogan, “Strength in Numbers.”
This slogan “describes NRO’s new strategy of pervasive superstructure — many small satellites designed for capability and flexibility,” NRO officials wrote.
So it’s probably safe to assume several small satellites will be launched as part of the NROL-146 mission, rather than a single, massive spacecraft.
a SpaceX mission descriptionIt did not say where the satellites were headed or give an expected time for their deployment, details SpaceX typically includes for unclassified missions.
Wednesday morning’s launch was SpaceX’s 52nd orbital liftoff in 2024. Of the 52 launches this year so far, 36 are dedicated to building out the company’s Starlink broadband constellation.
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