A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:00 UTC on January 8, 2018 with the classified Zuma payload for Northrop Grumman and an unnamed U.S. government agency.
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After almost two months of delays and a launch pad switch, SpaceX is finally ready to launch the classified Zuma spacecraft for Northrop Grumman and a shadowy U.S. government organization that has yet to be named.
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The year 2017 saw a total of 90 known orbital launch attempts from seven nations and space ports in eight different countries. 2017 had the second most orbital launch attempts of any year in the current century, short of 92 launches in 2014 and showing a slight increase from 2016 that had 85 known launch attempts.
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Two days after placing an Earth-imaging satellite into orbit, China was in action again on Monday for the country’s fourth launch of the month and the final expected Chinese mission in 2017, involving a Long March 2C rocket lifting the third group of Yaogan-30 electromagnetic-sensing satellites into orbit.
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China sent the second satellite of the LKW constellation into orbit on Saturday via a Long March 2D rocket, coming less than three weeks after the first LKW satellite reached orbit in what observers suspected was the first launch in a new series of reconnaissance spacecraft flying under the cover of land surveying missions.
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Kosmos 1346 – a Tselina-D Electronic Intelligence Satellite – re-entered the atmosphere on December 17, 2017 after over 35 years in orbit.
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China conducted its 15th orbital launch of the year on Sunday, involving a Long March 2D rocket lifting the LKW-1 imaging satellite into orbit.
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China was in action for the second time this week on Friday with the launch of a trio of Yaogan-30 satellites atop a Long March 2C rocket to join a growing constellation of what are believed to be electronic intelligence-gathering satellites residing in non-synchronous Low Earth Orbits 600 Kilometers in altitude.
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A European Vega rocket lit up the night over the French Guiana coast line on Tuesday, blasting off with a high-resolution communications satellite built by a European industry consortium for operation by the Kingdom of Morocco as a sharp eye in the sky for civilian benefits like environmental monitoring and mapping while doubling as a national security tool in border and coastal surveillance.
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A European Vega rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Center at 1:42:31 UTC on November 8, 2017 carrying into orbit the Mohammed VI-A satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco.
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Europe’s Vega rocket has been given the green light for a nighttime liftoff from French Guiana at 1:42 UTC on Wednesday with the Mohammed VI-A satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco.
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Within hours of its arrival in a classified orbit on Sunday, satellite trackers spotted the clandestine NROL-52 satellite, confirming its expected orbital trajectory and adding further proof to its suspected role within the satellite fleet of the National Reconnaissance Office.
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Lifting a classified satellite in the interests of U.S. National Security, ULA’s Atlas V rocket lit up the night skies over Florida’s Atlantic Coast on Sunday – finally getting off the ground on its fifth launch attempt.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 421 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch System 41 at 7:28 UTC on Sunday, October 15, 2017 on a classified mission with the NROL-52 satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 421 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch System 41 at 7:28 UTC on Sunday, October 15, 2017 on a classified mission with the NROL-52 satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.
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ULA’s Atlas V AV-075 rocket is back on its Cape Canaveral Launch Pad for another try at getting off the ground Saturday morning with the classified NROL-52 satellite
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ULA’s Atlas V rocket carrying the classified NROL-52 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office has been forced to move back into its Integration Facility after suffering three consecutive launch delays earlier in the week.
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