On Saturday, November 30 at 12:10 a.m. PT, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), in partnership with the U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 30, and SpaceX watched as the Falcon 9 launched the NROL-126 mission and 20 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. There was no live broadcast of the liftoff and a live feed only became available shortly before the main engine cutoff during the flight. It’s unclear if this was due to operational decisions or specific requests from the NRO. (Photo by Satnews)
This was the first flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission.
NROL-126 was the fifth launch of the NRO’s proliferated architecture of imaging satellites built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. SpaceX launched the first four batches of NRO satellites to low Earth orbit in May, June, September and October.
The mission emblem’s blue circles artistically depict a proliferated constellation of satellites, reflecting the new paradigm for assets the NRO is putting on orbit. The constellation design also suggests an eye’s iris, reflecting the NRO’s reconnaissance mission — seeing Earth from the perspective of stars. Additional design elements include the limitless horizon and the path to orbit with a four-point star. The tagline, “Strength in Numbers,” describes the NRO’s new strategy of a proliferated overhead architecture — numerous, smaller satellites designed for capability and resilience.
SpaceX’s second launch on Saturday
This was the second launch on Saturday after the Falcon 9 launched 24 Starlink satellites, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
