SpaceX launched its first West Coast Falcon 9 mission of 2024, carrying the latest batch of Starshield satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NROL-153 mission lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:53 p.m. PST and marked SpaceX’s fourth orbital launch of the year.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1071, successfully landed on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” after eight minutes in flight, marking its 116th landing. This was the booster’s 22nd flight overall, with previous missions including rideshare and NRO launches.
The NROL-153 mission supports the NRO’s proliferated architecture satellite constellation, which aims to provide greater revisit rates, faster delivery of information, and improved coverage. The agency plans at least five more launches using Falcon 9 rockets in 2025, bringing the total number of planned missions for 2025 to six.
According to Dr. T.J. Lincoln, director of the NRO’s Mission Operations Directorate, automation is a key priority for managing hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit. “We’re moving towards automation to better manage these complex systems,” he said. The goal is to expedite data delivery and provide critical information to decision-makers within seconds.
Col. Eric Zarybnisky, director of the U.S. Space Force’s Office of Space Launch, emphasized the importance of getting data out quickly, saying “We gotta get the data in the hands of decision makers and warfighters within seconds.”
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/01/09/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-starshield-satellites-for-the-nro-on-falcon-9-rocket-from-california