Video: X-37B payload mated to Atlas 5

The launch faced long odds with poor weather in the forecast for a fourth day in a row, but SpaceX was able to launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 9:56 p.m. EDT (0156 UTC).

This is our comprehensive fact sheet previewing the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket deployment of the classified NROL-52 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

SpaceX is targeting April 8 for the launch of its first resupply run to the International Space Station in nearly a year, a mission that the company hopes will mark the start of a rapid-fire launch manifest full of payloads waiting to fly.