Watch the Launch

Additional Media

NROL-108 Mission

SpaceX is now targeting Friday, December 18 for launch of the NROL-108 mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Friday’s th...

NROL-108 Mission

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, December 17 at 9:45 a.m. EST for launch of the NROL-108 mission, which will launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy ...

NROL-108

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA Probability: 90%
B1059 - Landing Zone 1

Classified payload for NRO.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 18, 2020, 5:23 a.m.

Pushed back another 24 hours.


Nosu • Dec. 17, 2020, 4:13 p.m.


SwGustav • Dec. 17, 2020, 1:04 p.m.

updating T-0



Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 14, 2020, 7:12 a.m.

Confirmed launch time backed up by marine closure notices.


Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549.0 T
  • Thrust
    7607.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1059

Status: Lost


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: December 5, 2019
Last Flight: February 16, 2021
Flights: 6
Landings Attempted: 6
Landings Successful: 5
Previous B1059 Flights

Landing Information

B1059 has successfully landed back at LZ-1 after its fifth launch.

Result: Successful Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 1.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 433 Failures: 12 Pending: 114

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

Related News

Teslarati

SpaceX celebrates five years of rocket landings with a record streak of success

As SpaceX closes out a halcyon year, today marks the fifth anniversary of the first Falcon booster landing and the company is...

SpaceNews

SpaceX wraps up 2020 with Falcon 9 launch of classified NRO satellite

A Falcon 9 carrying the NROL-108 mission lifted off at Dec. 19 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center.

Spaceflight Now

SpaceX scrubs Falcon 9 launch to assess second stage issue

SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch attempt Thursday to evaluate a “slightly high” pressure reading in the rocket’s upper stage liquid oxygen tank, and officials tentatively rescheduled the company’s final mission of the year for Friday morn…

NASA Spaceflight

SpaceX completes 2020 manifest with covert flight for NRO

Rounding off a record-breaking and historic launch manifest for 2020, SpaceX conduct its second dedicated launch for the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Saturday – following a scrub on Thursday – with a flight-proven …

Spaceflight Now

NRO using SpaceX’s commercial launch service for spy satellite payload

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to take off Thursday from Florida’s Space Coast with a classified cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office, which broke with standard practice to procure the payload’s launch commercially, outside …

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A


Electron
Success
1 day, 1 hour ago
StriX Launch 6
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 4 hours ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
2 days ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
3 days, 5 hours ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


KAIROS
Failure
4 days, 14 hours ago
Flight 2
Space One Launch Pad - Spaceport Kii, Japan

Second flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 17 hours ago
O3b mPower 7 & 8
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Seventh and eighth of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by…


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 2 hours ago
NROL-149
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Sixth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to…


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 15 hours ago
GPS III SV07 (RRT-1)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

GPS-III (Global Positioning System) is the first evolution stage of the third generation of the GPS satellites. It consists of the first ten (known a…


Long March 2D
Success
5 days, 21 hours ago
PIESAT-2 09-12
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Long March 5B/YZ-2
Success
6 days, 6 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 01
101 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group…