SpaceX is set to send National Reconnaissance Office’s classified payloads from the Space Coast, which could lead to a sonic boom in Central Florida on Monday.
The Falcon 9 rocket on the NROL-69 mission is targeting a lift-off from the Space-Firing Complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station until 1:48pm.
The first stage booster is the second flight, aiming for a recovery landing in Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This means that parts of central Florida can hear one or more sonic booms.
This is the 24th launch from the Space Coast in 2025, with everything but one coming from SpaceX.
The NRO has partnered with the US Space Force Space Systems Command for this mission flying under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. The NROL-69 was awarded to SpaceX in 2021 as part of two missions worth $160 million. This was intended to fly by the fall of 2023.
NROs design, build and operate secret payloads. The secret payload, in addition to the mission emblem and the Latin phrase Numquan hibernare, has the meaning of “never sunny.”
“Hummingbird shows the speed and agility that we bring benefits to our country and its allies,” reads Mission Press Packet. “Our birds have been on alert until now.”
The NRO previously flew two missions on SpaceX, the first under the NSSL Phase 2 contract order that took place between 2020 and 2024. SpaceX has only one more to fly for the NRO as part of its contract awards, but the United Launch Alliance lines up six of them in the Phase 2 contract awards.
However, ULA’s national security mission is awaiting certification for the Space Force’s Vulcan Rocket before allowing it to knock out what has grown into a backlog of 25 missions awarded for phase 2 five years of task orders.
Space Force has moved to orders for new missions under the NSSL Phase 3 agreement, but orders for big ticket tasks have not yet been announced. Although the total value for the new order has not been announced, the overall phase 2 split between ULA and SpaceX was worth $8.5 billion.
It has already awarded small awards under what is called Lane 1 of the Phase 3 contract, designed to open up NSSL missions to new entrants such as Firefly Aerospace, Rocket Lab, and Relativity Space.
However, the first order, including the pair of NRO launches, went to SpaceX.
