The US spy satellite has been launched! The lands booster is at Vandenberg.
April 13: NASA launches a weather satellite.
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On Easter, a spy satellite was launched by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office and then returned to Earth.
A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carrying the NROL-85 spacecraft lifted off from California today at 9:13 a.m. California time is 6:13 a.m.
The two stages separated about 2.5 minutes later. The first stage made a vertical touchdown about eight minutes after launch, which may be the ultimate bunny hop on the Easter Sunday holiday. The launch and landing of the Falcon 9 were classified by the NRO, so the live launch was ended.
This was the second landing for this particular booster, which also helped to loft the NROL-87 spacecraft, another NRO spy satellite.
It was the 114th successful recovery of a first-stage booster, according to John Insprucker, the principal integration engineer.
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The upper stage of the Falcon 9 will deploy the NROL-85 satellite. We don't know when or where that deployment will take place, given who booked today's flight.
The United States has a fleet of spy satellites, but the NRO does not reveal much about their activities. The NRO's mission press kit devotes very little words to the satellite, describing it as a national security payload designed, built and operated by NRO.
The first and second images are image 1 and image 2.
Image 1 of 2
Image 2 of 2
Today was the 14th of December and the second launch in a week. The first-ever all-private crewed mission to the International Space Station was lofted by a Falcon 9 on April 8. The Dragon capsule is scheduled to leave the space station on April 19 and return to Earth a day later.
There are more liftoffs coming. A big bunch of Starlink internet satellites will be launched from Florida on April 21 by a Falcon 9 rocket.
On April 23, the company will launch the Crew-4 mission for NASA, sending four professional astronauts to the space station for a lengthy stay. The crew will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, which is next to the Space Force Station.
Mike Wall is the author of Out There, a book about the search for alien life. You can follow him on social media. Follow us on social media.
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