The NROL-87 satellite was launched. At 6:13 am from Space Force Base in Vandenberg, California, aboard a two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
It was the first mission in which the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) reused a SpaceX booster missile, according to a statement issued by Vandenberg.
The booster first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket separated and successfully landed at Landing Zone 4 at the California Air Force Base.
The US Reconnaissance Office only described the NROL-85 satellite as a “vital classified national security shipment.”
The moon launch mission was one of three missions the US Air Force commissioned to SpaceX in 2019 with a combined cost of $297 million.
The US Reconnaissance Office is the government agency responsible for developing, building, launching and maintaining US satellites, which provide intelligence data to senior policymakers, the intelligence community, and the Department of Defense.
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