Sandwiched between Monday’s satellite launch for the Italian Space Agency and Thursday’s launch of Starlink internet satellites, SpaceX on Wednesday undertook a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Performing so many launches in such a short space of time used to be unheard of, but a busy schedule has always been SpaceX’s target as it utilizes its reusable rocket system for a range of companies and organizations seeking access to space.
Wednesday’s mission launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:18 p.m. PT, carrying a U.S. government spy satellite — listed as payload NROL-87 — into orbit for the NRO. As usual, SpaceX livestreamed the mission, though due to the classified nature of the payload, the private spaceflight company refrained from sharing footage of the satellite’s deployment into orbit. We were, however, treated to some awesome views of the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch and landing, which we’ve embedded below.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/pvsB7IqKSj — SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 2, 2022
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed pic.twitter.com/E22NvEiKe0 — SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 2, 2022
Below is a longer clip of the landing, which shows the booster descending from an altitude of just over 400,000 feet (about 120,000 meters).
Commenting after the launch, Colonel Chad Davis, director of NRO’s Office of Space Launch, said: “This launch demonstrates our ability to build the best-in-class systems to protect the United States and our allies from threats in and from space.” Davis added: “Our partners at SpaceX and U.S. Space Force were vital to the success of this mission today, and their outstanding capabilities make these highly technical missions look routine.”
This was SpaceX’s fourth orbital mission in what’s set to be a record-breaking year for the company in terms of launches. At least 40 missions are already planned for the next 12 months, ensuring it’ll breeze past 2021’s total of 31 launches.
SpaceX will now turn its attention to Thursday’s launch of another batch of Starlink internet satellites from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as it continues to build out its constellation and increase its broadband coverage from space.
Following scrubbed launches on Sunday and Monday, SpaceX managed to launch the Starship rocket on its 10th launch flight on Tuesday. The most powerful rocket ever built blasted off the launchpad at Starbase in southern Texas at 6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET). Here’s footage of the rocket leaving the launchpad:
It’s been a trying few days for SpaceX. On Sunday, the spaceflight company scrubbed the 10th launch of the Starship rocket as it needed to investigate an issue with the ground systems. Before the day was out, it said it would try again on Monday for a launch from its Starbase facility in southern Texas.
About three hours from liftoff on Monday, SpaceX said the weather conditions were 55% favorable for launch at 6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET) — hardly the clearest confirmation that the test flight would take place at the targeted time. After a couple of pauses during the final countdown, SpaceX was aiming to launch the rocket at the slightly later time of 7 p.m., but then, with 40 seconds to go, the effort was scrubbed for the second time in two days.
SpaceX has scrubbed the Starship launch for the second time in two days. The launch from Starbase in southern Texas was called off with just 40 seconds on the countdown clock. The clock had been held at 40 seconds due to an anvil cloud in the area that had to clear in a certain timeframe as it presented a lightning risk to the rocket during flight. Having failed to move far enough away from the site, SpaceX scrubbed what would have been the Starship rocket’s 10th test flight.
