SpaceX closed a record year by launching its 26th Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, the second in less than a week, to put a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite into orbit.
The NROL-108 payload was a surprising late addition to SpaceX’s launch manifesto. The builder and purpose of the satellite are mysteries, reminiscent of the equally mysterious “Zuma” payload launched by SpaceX in January 2018. Zuma was lost in some accident shortly after reaching space and no details of his mission, or even what desk it owned, ever surfaced.
In any case, the one-year-end mission got off to a spectacular start when the first stage of the Falcon 9, which made its fifth flight, came to life at 9:00 a.m. ET, pushing the sleek rocket away from historic path 39A in the Kennedy Space. Mid-top 1.7 million pounds of thrust.
William Harwood / CBS News
The launch came two days later than planned due to higher-than-normal pressures in the second stage of the liquid oxygen tank rocket, which triggered a last-minute “auto-abort” on Thursday. SpaceX did not provide additional details on the problem or how it had been resolved prior to Saturday’s explosion.
The NROL-108 payload was launched on a predominantly northeast trajectory. It was either heading for low orbit or a relatively lightweight satellite – or both – because the first stage had enough propellant left after climbing out of the lower atmosphere to change course and fly itself back to land at the Cape Canaveral Space Force. Station
It was SpaceX’s 22nd landing to return to the launch site, the 19th in Florida, and three more in California. In total, the company has recovered 70 first stage boosters since December 2015, including 48 on-board off-shore droneships.
SpaceX ended its launch commentary on booster touchdown and, as is common with classified NRO missions, no details were provided on the performance of the second stage, the supposed deployment of the NROL-108 satellite, or its initial orbit.
“The NROL-108 has a national security payload designed, built and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office,” the NRO said in response to a question from Spaceflight Now. “Additional details about the cargo and its mission are protected. The name or names of the contractor or contractors involved in building this cargo are also protected.”
SpaceX
Amateur satellite analysts trying to track classified payloads had no understanding of the nature of the satellite.
It was the third NRO satellite to air this year, including one placed on top of one United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 missile on Nov. 13 and another launched by a ULA Delta 4 Heavy missile on December 10.
Despite a pandemic that delayed work on critical projects in the aerospace industry in 2020, SpaceX launched a record 26 Falcon 9s, including one sub-orbital test flight, bringing the company’s total to 103 since the rocket’s debut. in 2010, of which 106 including three triple-core Falcon Heavies. The company’s previous one-year record, set in 2018, was 21.
SpaceX’s 2020 flights include 14 launches of the company’s Starlink internet relay satellites, two cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station, the first two piloted flights of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and a dramatic in-flight test of the capsule’s emergency shutdown system.
The Crew Dragons brought six astronauts to the International Space Station, two of them in a test flight launched on May 30 and splashed on August 2, and four on the ferry ship’s first operational flight, launches on November 15th. The four “Crew 1” astronauts are expected to remain on the air until May next year.