Portugal Colonial - SpaceX rocket successfully launches US spy satellite

NYSE - LSE
CMSD 0.09% 22.48 $
JRI 0.47% 12.8 $
SCS -0.3% 9.86 $
BCE 0.73% 21.81 $
CMSC -0.04% 22.32 $
RIO 0.51% 60.87 $
BCC -0.19% 95.33 $
NGG 1.11% 72.85 $
AZN 0.51% 69.93 $
GSK 1.66% 38.06 $
RBGPF 100% 60.88 $
RYCEF -0.59% 10.12 $
RELX -0.36% 53.36 $
VOD 2.3% 9.57 $
BTI 0.8% 42.39 $
BP -0.21% 29.13 $
SpaceX rocket successfully launches US spy satellite
SpaceX rocket successfully launches US spy satellite

SpaceX rocket successfully launches US spy satellite

A US intelligence agency said Wednesday that its newest spy satellite successfully launched into orbit atop a reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Text size:

The rocket took off at 12:27 pm local time (2027 GMT) from the Vandenberg Air Force base in California, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is in charge of the US Space Force, said in a statement.

After releasing the satellite, dubbed NROL-87, into orbit, the Falcon 9 rocket then landed back at the base, the agency said.

"NROL-87 is designed, built, and operated by the NRO to support its overhead reconnaissance mission," the statement said.

The NRO gave few other details about the satellite but said it will "provide a wide-range of timely intelligence information."

The NRO, a division of the US Defense Department, operates a large network of surveillance satellites, and is headquartered near Washington, in northern Virginia.

NROL-87, the first satellite launched by the NRO in 2022, is the third time the agency has used a Falcon 9 rocket.

The NRO has launched 16 other satellites over the past two years.

V.Dantas--PC