NROL-149: SpaceX Launches 6th Batch Of Next-gen US Spy Satellites

SpaceX launched the NROL-149 mission Tuesday, for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff occurred at 1319 UTC.

The Falcon 9 first stage returned 8.5 minutes after liftoff, for a landing on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean. This was the booster's 22nd mission overall. The upper stage, meanwhile continued spaceward with the NROL-149 payloads which were deployed to orbit about 90 minutes later.

NROL-149 "is the sixth launch of NRO's proliferated architecture, eighth launch of 2024 and last launch of the year!" the agency said in an X post on Sunday (Dec. 15).

The NRO’s proliferated architecture is a strategy to launch multiple small satellites, known as “smaller, smarter, and more numerous” payloads, to provide enhanced reconnaissance capabilities. This approach enables the agency to rapidly deploy and update its constellation of satellites, improving its ability to support national security and defense requirements.

The proliferated architecture payloads are believed to be "Starshield" spacecraft based on SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites, but with some high-tech reconnaissance gear attached.

Tuesday's launch and landing of Falcon 9 first stage marks SpaceX's 384th overall recovery of an orbital-class rocket, including both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters. The flight was also SpaceX's 127th mission of 2024.