Tajny satelita wyniesiony z Vandenberg 02.02. o 20:27:26 z Vandenberg wystrzelona została RN Falcon-9R. Wyniosła ona na orbitę o parametrach: hp=513 km, ha=513 km, i=97,4 ° w ramach misji NRO L-87 nieznanego satelitę, prawdopodobnie pierwszy egzemplarz nowej generacji rozpoznania elektrooptycznego. Pierwszy stopień RN (B1071.1) wylądował na LZ-4 w Vandenberg.
http://lk.astronautilus.pl/n220201.htm#01Falcon 9 launches NROL-87 and Falcon 9 first stage landinghttps://twitter.com/jdeshetler/status/1489002435783712769https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1489046664807477251https://twitter.com/NatReconOfc/status/1488343533157236736https://www.nro.gov/Portals/65/documents/news/press/2022/NROL-87_Press_Release_020222.pdfHere are some statistics on today's mission:139th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
147th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
1st launch of Falcon 9 booster B1071
3rd SpaceX launch for National Reconnaissance Office
20th SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
5th Falcon 9 launch of 2022
5th orbital launch by SpaceX in 2022
1st orbital launch attempt based out of Vandenberg in 2022
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/02/02/falcon-9-nrol-87-mission-status-center/SpaceX preps for launch of spy satellite payload from California this weekJanuary 31, 2022 Stephen Clark
The official patch for the NROL-87 mission. Credit: NRO(...) It will mark the fourth landing of a Falcon rocket booster at Vandenberg. SpaceX plans to refurbish the booster for another flight later this year for the NRO, an agency spokesperson told Spaceflight Now. (...)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/01/31/spacex-preps-for-launch-of-spy-satellite-payload-from-california-this-week/SpaceX set to launch top secret spy payload from CaliforniaFebruary 1, 2022 Stephen Clark
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sits horizontal at Space Launch Complex 4-East on Tuesday ahead of a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight NowA classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office is closed up in the nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff Wednesday from California’s Central Coast, debuting a brand new booster that will land back near the launch site for reuse on another national security mission later this year. (...)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/02/01/spacex-set-to-launch-top-secret-spy-payload-from-california/SpaceX launches classified NRO satellite from Vandenberg Space Force BaseFebruary 2, 2022 Stephen Clark
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from the SLC-4E launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base to begin the NROL-87 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now(...) But all of those milestones occurred in secret. In a press release about two hours after the launch, the National Reconnaissance Office declared success on the mission, which was codenamed NROL-87.
“The Falcon 9 delivered a national security payload to orbit before the reusable rocket booster safely landed at Landing Zone 4,” officials wrote in an NRO press release. “NROL-87 is designed, built, and operated by the NRO to support its overhead reconnaissance mission.”
“I cannot provide, unfortunately, really any details whatsoever (publicly), which is really frustrating to me in one regard because then I’m not able to accurately communicate the kind of capability this is going to deliver on orbit,” said Col. Chad Davis, director of the NRO’s office of space launch.
Generally, Davis said, the NRO puts “capabilities on orbit to save lives.”
“It’s our U.S. and allied forces in the field that are using these kind of capabilities on a daily basis,” Davis said. “So support the fight on the ground, as it were, bring them home safe, and deliver our national policymakers the most detailed information that’s possible so they can make smart decisions. It’s that kind of a capability set that this mission is going to fall into.”
The target orbital parameters suggest the payload may be part of a new generation of optical NRO surveillance satellites. Davis, who served as the NROL-87 mission director, confirmed in a pre-launch media telecon that the rocket would carry a “single payload” into orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage had enough reserved propellant to return to Vandenberg for landing, indicating that the NROL-87 payload was relatively lightweight. (...)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/02/02/spacex-launches-classified-nro-satellite-from-vandenberg-space-force-base/SpaceX Kicks Off Busy February with Classified NROL-87 Launchby Ben Evans February 2, 2022
Wednesday’s launch was the first of four classified missions planned by SpaceX for 2022. Coming up later this year are the USSF-44, USSF-52 and NROL-85 missions. Photo Credit: SpaceX(...) Less than eight minutes later, B1071 pirouetted her way back to Earth, touching down on solid ground at Landing Zone (LZ)-4, only 1,000 feet (330 meters) from SLC-4E. It kicked off the first of up to five flights in February, with a previously-flown Falcon 9 already standing proud on the East Coast for its own Thursday afternoon launch. (...)
It would have been the first time that SpaceX had flown as many as five times out of Florida in a single calendar month. But it was not to be. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2022/02/02/spacex-kicks-off-busy-february-with-classified-nrol-87-launch/https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/02/spacex-nrol-87/AA
https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=4368.msg173996#msg173996https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nrol-87.htm