Launch of a spy satellite in the United States: SpaceX's annual record and another successful landing of the first stage of Falcon 9

Launch of a spy satellite in the United States: SpaceX’s annual record and another successful landing of the first stage of Falcon 9

SpaceX today launched a secret spy satellite for the US National Aerospace Intelligence Agency (NMSA) into space, successfully completing its 26th launch in 2020, a new year record for the company. The mysterious payload, dubbed NROL-108, lifted off from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 17:00 Moscow time.

SpaceX

About nine minutes after launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 booster landed at Space X-1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral. Today’s flight marks the fifth launch for this particular first stage of the Falcon 9. The launch vehicle, designated B1059, previously sent two commercial cargo missions to the International Space Station for NASA, delivered a batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites into orbit earlier this year, and recently launched an Earth observation satellite for Argentina. Rescue vessel GO Ms Tree also has to fish out the rocket fairing flaps, which were parachuted down from the Atlantic Ocean.

The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday, but thick clouds and a problem with the second stage of the rocket forced SpaceX to postpone it. B1059 is only the second launch vehicle to land on the headland this year (most are still boarding unmanned barges at sea). The company once again landed the first stage at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California following the launch of NASA’s Sentinel-6 Earth observation satellite.

Little is known about the satellite for NUVKR, except for the fact that the agency provided the delivery of top-secret cargo into orbit in an unconventional way. Typically, it conducts its flights into space through the US National Security Space Force Launch Program, but this time, according to a report from Spaceflight Now, it was done on its own.

Another interesting point is that SpaceX did not perform static fire tests on its rocket prior to flight. Typically, the company will hold the rocket on-site and briefly fire the nine first-stage engines to make sure the systems are working properly before takeoff. SpaceX rarely skips this standard test. The mission marks the sixth launch for NUVKR and the second-ever flight aboard SpaceX Falcon 9. The first was the NROL-76 mission in May 2017.

The NROL-108 mission marks the 50th anniversary of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 re-launch since the company launched the returned first stage in 2015. It also marks the 70th first stage landing and the 103rd rocket launch.

Today’s mission marks the end of a busy year for Cape Canaveral. In total, in the past year, 31 missions were launched from this cosmodrome, 26 of which were on SpaceX rockets. Next year, SpaceX is expected to continue to replenish its Starlink satellite constellation, carry out two more manned missions to the ISS and launch the Falcon Heavy super-heavy rocket once, in addition to continuing the Starship test. All 26 of SpaceX’s major missions this year have been successful, but on two occasions the company has failed to land the first stages of the rocket. Roscosmos this year carried out 15 launches against 25 a year earlier – all of them were also recognized as successful.