(ORDO NEWS) — The US Intelligence Agency announced on Wednesday that its newest reconnaissance satellite was successfully launched into orbit aboard SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 reusable rocket.
The rocket launched at 12:27 local time (20:27 GMT) from the site of the Vandenberg Air Force Base, located in California, USA, the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) said.
After the launch of this satellite, called NROL-87, the Falcon 9 rocket then returned to the base, the agency said.
“The NROL-87 satellite is designed, built and operated by NRO to support its ‘reconnaissance from above’ mission,” the statement said.
NRO provided almost no information about this satellite, but noted that it “will allow you to quickly receive a large amount of intelligence information.”
NRO, a division of the US Department of Defense, operates a large network of reconnaissance satellites and is headquartered near Washington, in northern Virginia.
The launch of NROL-87, the first satellite launched by NRO into space in 2022, was the agency’s third use of a Falcon 9 rocket.
NRO has launched 16 other satellites over the past two years.
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