On Monday, September 22 at 10:38 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched the NROL-48 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The are satellites built with Northrop Grumman on commercial Starlink buses with military-grade payloads for national security
“Having hundreds of NRO satellites on orbit is vital to our nation and partners,” the agency said in a September 22 statement. “This constellation continues to add capability and resilience to our mission through shorter revisit times, increased observational persistence, and faster processing and transmission of data.”
This was the 18th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, EarthCARE, NROL-186, Transporter-13, TRACERS, and nine Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage landed on Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
There was the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may have heard one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experienced depended on weather and other conditions.
SpaceX to launch NROL-48 secret mission on Monday from California
SpaceX is targeting Monday, September 22 for a Falcon 9 launch of the NROL-48 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The one-hour launch window opens at 10:23 a.m. PT. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Tuesday, September 23 starting at 10:10 a.m. PT.
Monday is the scheduled date for the plans to launch the eleventh batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to provide imaging and other reconnaissance capabilities.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), in partnership with U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 30 and SpaceX are scheduled to launch the NROL-48 mission on September 22. This will be the eleventh launch of NRO’s proliferated architecture.
The forecast calls for a temperature of 69°F, clear skies, 0% cloud cover and a wind speed of 7mph.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 10 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This is the 18th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, EarthCARE, NROL-186, Transporter-13, TRACERS, and nine Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.