SpaceX remains busy.
One of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets launched tonight (Sept. 5) at 11:20 p.m. EDT (8:20 p.m. California time; Sept. 6 3:20 a.m. GMT) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, launching a series of next-generation spy satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
It was SpaceX’s second launch of the day; another Falcon 9 launched 21 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites into orbit this morning from Florida’s Space Coast.
The Falcon 9 performed its landing with flying colors during today’s mission, which the NRO named NROL-113. About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the launch vehicle touched down gently on the deck of SpaceX’s drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
According to a SpaceX mission description, it was the 20th launch and landing of this particular booster. Fourteen of those flights were Starlink missions.
NROL-113 was the third launch under NRO’s “spread architecture,” a new network of “numerous, smaller satellites designed for performance 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 proliferation architecture satellites or what they do in orbit; their missions and activities are classified, like those of most NRO spacecraft. (The agency operates the country’s spy satellite fleet.)
Related: SpaceX launches next-generation US spy satellite and makes landing (video)
SpaceX has already launched 86 orbital missions in 2024, about 70% of which were Starlink flights.
As today’s double feature shows, the company is back on track after two setbacks this summer. SpaceX was forced to pause for about two weeks after a Falcon 9 upper stage failure during a Starlink launch on July 11. And after a failed booster landing during an otherwise successful Starlink mission on August 28, the company was forced to stop flying for three days.
