SpaceX Will Launch Spy Satellite NROL – 76 For US Department Of Defense On Sunday
SpaceX is set to launch NROL - 76 into space Sunday. This is a satellite under classified mission for the US Department of Defense and has been reported to be a spy satellite of the United States. SpaceX founder, Elon Musk has confirmed the launch of the spy satellite via Twitter saying that their Falcon 9 rockets were ready after completing static fire testing.
SpaceX mission is basically classified but reports say that their Falcon 9 rockets are set to take a spy satellite into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Teslarati reported. It was also said that this mission is by far the most important in SpaceX's history. Previous NROL missions were done by government contractor United Launch Alliance and with the success of the event that will happen Sunday, it looks like SpaceX will have more clandestine missions to come.
Elon Musk really has a lot of reasons to be excited for this Sunday's launch. The static fire test was a success. Falcon 9 rockets were able to fire to simulate actual launch day events; restraints were used to hold the rocket down on Launchpad 39A.
SpaceX has been involved with military projects for almost a year now but this is the first time it will launch a satellite for the NRO which is a part of the U.S. Intelligence Community, Inverse reported. Previous SpaceX missions included the launch of communications satellites as well as global positioning systems satellites. It was able to secure a $96.5 million contract with the United States Airforce to improve the -3 program.
This Sunday's launch will be SpaceX's 33rd launch using its Falcon 9 rocket since 2010. This is also the fifth space mission this year. SpaceX plans to cut down on space mission and space travel costs by reusing its rocket boosters. Musk claims that constructing a new rocket is very expensive and this usually eats up the cost. The billionaire is also planning to send tourists to Mars soon using recycled rocket boosters to make space travel more affordable.
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