SpaceX will launch a US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellite on Sunday morning (April 17) to watch the lift-off live.
SpaceX Falcon 9 The rocket carrying the NROL-85 spacecraft will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:13 am EDT (1313 GMT; 6:13 am California time) on Sunday. With the kindness of SpaceX, you can watch it live on Space.com. Directly via the company..
In addition to the release SpaceX The first stage of the two-stage Falcon 9 will be returned to Vandenberg, with a pinpoint touchdown about eight minutes after the lift-off. According to SpaceX’s mission description, this was the second launch and landing of this particular first stage, which also helped launch the NROL-87 spacecraft in February.
Related: Eight Ways SpaceX Transformed Space Flight
NRO operates a US spy satellite fleet. Most activities and payloads of these spacecraft are classified, and NROL-85 is no exception. I’m not sure about the satellite, or exactly what it does when it reaches orbit. In addition, SpaceX may end the broadcast shortly after launch, as NRO normally requires.
The Friday launch is part of a very busy stretch for SpaceX. The company launched on April 8th. Ax-1The first all-civilian astronaut mission in history from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Ax-1 SpaceX Dragon capsule will depart from the space station on April 19th and will fly into the ocean the next day. And on April 23, SpaceX will launch the Crew-4 mission. In this mission, four professional astronauts will stay on the ISS for a long time.
Crew-4, taking off from KSC, is SpaceX’s fourth contract crew mission to fly to NASA. Its crew members are NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, and the European Space Agency Samantha Cristoforetti.
Mike Wall says “there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on alien life exploration. Follow him on Twitter. @michaeldwall.. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook..
