🚀 Falcon 9 | 🛰 NROL-192
Launch date: April 12, 2025 12:25 UTC
Payload: NROL-192
Location: SLC-4e Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Vehicle: Falcon 9
SpaceX launched the NROL-192 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on April 12, 2025, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This marks the ninth mission supporting the NRO’s ‘proliferated architecture,’ a strategy focusing on deploying large numbers of small, cost-effective reconnaissance satellites. Details about the specific payload remain classified, but these satellites are believed to be upgraded Starlink models equipped for intelligence gathering. The rapid cadence of these launches began in May 2024, all using Falcon 9 rockets. The Falcon 9’s first stage successfully landed on a Pacific Ocean droneship after the launch.
SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA
Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) is part of the larger Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Originally built as Launch Complex 75-1-2 and used by the U.S. Air Force for Atlas-Agena and Titan rockets in the 1960s and 1970s, it was later refurbished by SpaceX beginning in 2011. SpaceX rebuilt the facility to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches aimed at sun-synchronous and polar orbits—trajectories best served from Vandenberg.
The first Falcon 9 launch from SLC-4E took place in September 2013. Since then, it has become SpaceX’s primary West Coast launch site, supporting both government and commercial payloads, including earth observation and reconnaissance satellites. In addition to supporting reusable launch vehicle operations, SLC-4E also hosts infrastructure for rocket landing and recovery, helping to advance SpaceX’s reusability efforts.