SpaceX blasted off a secretive U.S. government satellite, called NROL-76.
It is the first military launch by the SpaceX with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which makes and operates spy satellites for the United States.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted NROL-76 into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The name NROL-76, shortened from NRO Launch 76, is part of an arbitrary numbering system used to identify the NRO’s satellites – without disclosing their identities – prior to launch.
The National Reconnaissance Office is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense.
The California-based company SpaceX, headed by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, has already made several successful landings on solid ground and on platforms floating in the ocean.
Until now, the US military has spent billions per year exclusively with United Launch Alliance, a joint operation of aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch government satellites.
This launch marked the third launch to use the Autonomous Flight Safety System and the fourth successful landing of the Falcon 9 first stage booster on SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 at CCAFS.
Like most NRO missions, the identity of this satellite remained as classified/top secret.