SpaceX launches classified payload for the U.S. Space Force

Update Sept. 10, 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 UTC): SpaceX landed its first stage booster. SpaceX flew its latest national security payload for the United States Space Force with a Falcon 9 rocket launch scheduled for Thursday morning. The mission, designated USSF-153, carried an undisclosed number of satellites to low Earth orbit. Because of the nature of the flight, SpaceX didn’t publish a post-launch timeline beyond the booster landing nearly 8.5 minutes into flight. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:42 a.m. PDT (1142 a.m. EDT / 1542 UTC). SpaceX launched the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1081. This was its 27th after previously launching four missions for NASA; two missions for each of the National Reconnaissance Office, the European Space Agency, and rideshare customers; and 16 batches of Starlink satellites. A successful landing of B1081 on the SpaceX droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, represented the 224th landing on this vessel and the 660th Falcon booster to date. The USSF-153 mission was SpaceX’s fifth mission this year supporting national security-related payloads. Previous mission included: - Jan. 16 – NROL-105 - May 11 – NROL-172 - July 16 – Space Development Agency’s Third Tranche 1 Mission - Aug. 15 – USSF-366 The most recent of those, USSF-366, was procured as part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 contract, according to Space Systems Command. However, further information about that mission was not provided, both before and after completion of the launch. Spaceflight Now reached out to SSC regarding the USSF-153 mission and a spokesperson said, “Currently, specific details about the mission and payload are protected.”