BACK
Watch SpaceX launch a US spy satellite and land a rocket today
www.space.com

Watch SpaceX launch a US spy satellite and land a rocket today

SpaceX will launch a spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Sunday (April 17), and you can watch the liftoff live.

Science & Tech

SpaceX will launch a spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Sunday morning (April 17), and you can watch the liftoff live.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with the NROL-85 spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday at 9:13 a.m. EDT (1313 GMT; 6:13 a.m. local California time). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company.

In addition to the launch, SpaceX plans to bring the first stage of the two-stage Falcon 9 back to Vandenberg for a pinpoint touchdown about eight minutes after liftoff. It will be the second launch and landing for this particular first stage, which also helped launch the NROL-87 spacecraft in February, according to a SpaceX mission description.