SpaceX Launches Classified NROL-95 From Cape Canaveral
A reused Falcon 9 booster returned to Cape Canaveral in a flight that advances the NRO’s move toward a larger, smaller-satellite reconnaissance constellation.
Overview
- A SpaceX Falcon 9 carried the National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-95 mission into orbit early Thursday, July 30, with liftoff around 3:09–3:10 a.m. EDT and no public details released about the payload.
- The first-stage booster B1096 flew for the seventh time and successfully targeted a return and landing at Landing Zone 2 about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
- SpaceX began a live webcast roughly 10 minutes before launch but restricted coverage of the second stage and payload deployment at the NRO’s request while the agency published a symbolic mission patch.
- Launch weather officers had forecast about a 70% chance of acceptable conditions but warned of model uncertainty and the risk of cloud or thunderstorm violations that could have forced a delay.
- The flight was flown under the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract awarded to SpaceX in August 2024 and continues the NRO’s 2026 push to build a ‘proliferated architecture’ of many smaller reconnaissance satellites.