There is a spy satellite in the sky.
The NRO's NROL-199 satellite lifted off at 1 a.m. on a rocket from New Zealand. The time in New Zealand is 5PM.
The satellite will be deployed about an hour after liftoff. High winds caused the launch to be delayed by two days. At the request of the NRO, rocket lab shut down its website.
There are photos of the rocket lab and its electron booster.
The US has a fleet of spy satellites. We have only a vague idea of what NROL-199 will be doing, because the agency keeps details about those satellites under wraps.
Today's mission is called "Antipodean Adventure" and is intended to provide critical information to government agencies and decision makers.
The Australian Department of Defence and the NRO are working together on a project. The two organizations collaborated on another satellite, NROL-161, which was launched less than a month ago.
The NROL-199 and NROL-161 missions are the third and fourth missions contracted by the NRO to launch small satellites through a streamlined, commercial approach.
Two of the missions that were launched under the contract lifted off in January and June 2020.
The 58 foot tall (19 meter) two stage Electron was designed to give small satellites dedicated rides. An Electron sent NASA's CAPSTONE cubesat toward the moon, and a private mission to Venus is planned for next year.
During a live launch commentary, the company's communications manager said that it had been a busy few weeks. The company's CAPSTONE moon mission for NASA launched on June 28 and was followed 15 days later by the NROL-161 mission.
The first stage of the rocket lab is expendable. The plan calls for catching the first stages with a helicopter and then hauling them back to land.
The company has recovered the first stage on several missions. The first stage of "Antipodean Adventure" went into the Pacific Ocean after it separated from the upper stage.
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