Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Watch Live: SpaceX launches and lands Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral on spy satellite mission

Watch live coverage from Cape Canaveral as SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a classified payload for the U.S. spy satellite agency, the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 is scheduled for 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 UTC) on Tuesday, Dec. 9. The first-stage booster for this …

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches NROL-77

Falcon 9 launch of a classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from SLC-40. Instantaneous launch window: December 9th at 2:16:25PM EST (19:26:25 UTC) Mission: Falcon 9 launch of the NROL-77 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office Launch location: Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Earth. …

NROL-77 Mission

Livestream on X

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

NROL-77

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Unknown
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Unknown Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA Probability: 98%
B1096 - Landing Zone 2

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.

Telemetry

Launch trajectory and telemetry simulations provided by Flight Club - a rocket launch simulator and orbital trajectory visualiser for all things space!

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 9, 2025, 10:49 p.m.

Launch success.


hitura-nobad • Dec. 9, 2025, 7:16 p.m.

Liftoff!


LL2 • Dec. 9, 2025, 7:02 p.m.

Unofficial Re-stream by SPACE AFFAIRS has started


Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 9, 2025, 6:52 p.m.

Updated launch weather forecast.


Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 8, 2025, 10:12 p.m.

Tweaked T-0.


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
  • Stages
    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


B1096

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: July 16, 2025
Last Flight: December 9, 2025
Flights: 4
Landings Attempted: 4
Landings Successful: 4
Previous B1096 Flights

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 first stage B1096 has landed back at the launch site at Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) after its 4th flight.

Result: Successful Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 2.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 606 Failures: 15 Pending: 116

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

NASASpaceflight

Launch Roundup: China, Russia, Rocket Lab, ULA join SpaceX in flying this week

The upcoming launch week, starting on Monday, Dec. 8, is a very busy one as… The post Launch Roundup: China, Russia, Rocket Lab, ULA join SpaceX in flying this week appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 40


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
CSG-3
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

CSG-3 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operatin…


Long March 7A
Success
1 week ago
Shijian 29 A-B
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

2 satellites officially described as for "demonstration of new technologies for spatial targets detection" purposes.


Long March 4B
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Tianhui 7
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A satellite officially described as for cartography purposes, details TBD.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
AIST-2T 01 & 02
Cosmodrome Site 1S - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

A pair of Russian optical Earth observation satellites built by the Progress Rocket Space Centre for obtaining stereo images of the Earth's surface, …


Long March 3B/E
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Fengyun-4C
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

China's geostationary meteorological satellite program FY-4 (Feng Yun 4) is the second generation of chinese geostationary meteorological satellites.


Long March 8A
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
SatNet LEO Group 17
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
Obzor-R No.1
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Assignment of payloads to this launch is uncertain. The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite desi…


LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III)
Success
2 weeks ago
BlueBird Block 2 #1
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Long March 12A
Success
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Demo Flight
Long March 12A Pad - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First test launch of CASC/SAST’s Long March 12A rocket, with a dummy payload. The rocket’s 1st stage attempted to land on a landing pad about 300 km …


HANBIT-Nano
Failure
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Spaceward
HANBIT Pad - Alcântara Space Center, Federative Republic of Brazil

Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean start-up Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small sa…