Second try succeeds: SpaceX launches 21 data satellites for the US military
After Monday's last-minute abort, a Falcon 9 lifted off from California at 3:39 a.m. EDT on Saturday. The satellites will build out a military data network in orbit.
Archive image · Photo: U.S. Space Force photo by Airman 1st Class Ian Hawkes / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
SpaceX has launched 21 satellites for the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA) on its second attempt. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3:39 a.m. EDT (0739 GMT) on Saturday. A first attempt on Monday, October 5, was aborted in the final minute of the countdown; SpaceX did not give a reason.
The first stage, booster 1103 on its sixth flight, landed back at Vandenberg a little over seven minutes after liftoff. The satellites belong to the transport layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a network of many small satellites designed to relay military data around the globe.
It was the fourth of nine Tranche 1 launches. Tranche 1 comprises 154 operational satellites: 126 for data transport and 28 for missile tracking. With today's launch, 84 of the 126 transport satellites are now in orbit, Space.com reports.