SpaceX to launch US spy satellite from Vandenberg SFB using Falcon 9 rocket

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) mission is scheduled to blast off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California later this month.

The launch is scheduled to take place on Friday, April 15, between 5:59am and 7:25am local time, from Launch Complex 4. Colonel Rob Long, Space Launch Delta 30 commander, has been named as the launch decision authority as per a Vandenberg press release.

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While the launch, in itself, isn’t of particular note, what is noteworthy is the fact that the April 15 launch will become the first NRO mission to reuse a SpaceX booster. Additionally, the April 15 launch is also the second Falcon 9 launch procured under the National Security Space Launch contract to carry out space launches from the West Coast.

As a precaution, residents in Ventura to San Luis Obispo counties have been warned of several sonic booms that might occur during the re-entry of the Falcon 9 booster.

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The April 15 launch for the NROL-85 mission will also mark the second collaboration between the NRO and SpaceX this year.

On February 2, 12.27pm local time, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload for the NROL-87 mission, lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

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The February 2 mission marked the first Falcon 9 launch under the $316 million contract signed in 2020 between SpaceX and the NRO for the launch of classified US Space Force satellites between 2022 and 2024.

Earlier, in 2021, the NRO had also tied up with SpaceX to launch two other payloads, namely, the NROL-82 and the NROL-111 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, respectively.