SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket set to carry national security payload for U.S. Military
-
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 09: SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Falcon 9 rocket sits on Launch Complex 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center as it is prepared for another attempt to liftoff on September 9, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Polaris Dawn mission is a private spaceflight backed by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payments platform company Shift4. During the mission, the astronauts will attempt the first spacewalk by a private company. The launch has been re-scheduled from Tuesday, August 27, to Tuesday, September 10th, at 3:38 am and has a four-hour window. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)The Falcon 9 rocket is set to carry a national security payload for the U.S. military in support of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
This is a secretive mission called NROL-77, going to be a launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The primary launch time is 2:16 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 9. If the weather conditions or some other factors don't allow the launch to go on at that time, there is also a possibility to launch on Wednesday, December 10 at 2:02 p.m. ET.
The NRO is the National Reconnaissance Office and it works as a part of the Department of Defense which is in charge of the fleet of U.S. spy satellites.
In line with the secretive nature of the spacecraft and their operations, no one knows specifically what the NROL-77 payload is, and the mission parameters have not been disclosed.
Falcon 9 mission to launch classified NROL-77 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office
Mission details and classification
The NROL-77 mission is a top-secret payload, which was designed, built, and is operated by the NRO. According to the NRO's official press kit, the mission carries a national security payload.
The NRO is the agency in charge of creating and running the United States’ reconnaissance satellites. As a result of NRO's nature, the missions and the hardware that are being referred to are usually classified.
SpaceX will have the launch broadcast available as a stream on its official website and X account. They will start the coverage roughly 10 minutes before the planned liftoff time.
The exact orbital insertion details for the payload remain a mystery to the public.
Based on prior classified launches, the webcast produced by SpaceX is anticipated to conclude following the successful landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage booster.
The mission patch for NROL-77, as noted by NRO officials in the press kit, features a flying squirrel and includes the motto, “Another One Gone — Today, Tomorrow and Beyond."
The flying squirrel is presented as a symbol of hard work and endurance in gathering foundational knowledge from the space domain for the nation and its allies.
Falcon 9 booster and launch sequence
The NROL-77 mission Falcon 9 rocket is outfitted with a reusable first stage booster, 1096, which is the designation number.
This booster is going to be flown for the fourth time with this Falcon 9 launch. On its previous three missions, it was the booster that accompanied the launches of KF-01, IMAP, and a Starlink mission.
After the separation of stages, the first-stage booster will be brought back to Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The touchdown is planned to take place at around 8 minutes and 28 seconds after launch.
The launch sequence will begin with the verification for propellant loading at $T$ minus 38 minutes.
RP-1 (rocket-grade kerosene) and first-stage liquid oxygen (LOX) loading will commence at $T$ minus 35 minutes, followed by second-stage LOX loading at $T$ minus 16 minutes.
Engine chill for the Falcon 9 will begin at $T$ minus 7 minutes. The propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure will begin at the 1-minute mark.
Engine ignition sequence starts at $T$ minus 3 seconds, leading to liftoff at $T$ zero. The moment of maximum mechanical stress on the rocket, or Max Q, will occur at 1 minute and 12 seconds into the flight.
Previous NRO missions and continuity
NROL-77 is the third mission that SpaceX has launched for the NRO and U.S. Space Systems Command in the calendar year 2025. It is the seventh Falcon 9 flight of 2025 that carries the "NROL-" designation prefix.
Previous NRO missions launched by Falcon 9 in 2025 were NROL-153, NROL-57, NROL-69, NROL-192, NROL-145, and NROL-48, which were done from January to September.
This flight is in line with the NRO's goal of providing secured access to space, as per the information available on the SpaceX official website.
The ongoing use of Falcon 9 for national security payloads from the SMC clearly shows that the NRO is maintaining the deployment of the critical space assets that form the backbone of its mission.
Stay tuned for more updates.
TOPICS: SpaceX Falcon 9, National Reconnaissance Office, national security payload, NROL-77, SpaceX Falcon 9 NROL-77 launch time, U.S. military launch