A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the NROL-87 payload lifted off at 3:27 p.m. EST (2027 GMT).
SpaceX sent a U.S. spy satellite to orbit today in the second of three planned launches over a four-day stretch.rocket topped with the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-87 payload lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California today at 3:27 p.m. EST .
A little over eight minutes later, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth for a pinpoint touchdown at Vandenberg's Landing Zone 4. The upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying NROL-87 to orbit.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the NROL-87 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Feb. 2, 2022.
It's not clear what the spy satellite will do up there; its activities and instruments are classified, like those of most NRO spacecraft. Indeed, upon the NRO's request, SpaceX ended today's launch webcast just after the first stage touched down.from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. And the company plans to launch 49 of its Starlink internet satellites on Thursday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which is also on Florida's Space Coast.
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