Watch the Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A

The mission was the fifth of 2025 featuring spacecraft developed by the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff of the NROL-69 mission from pad 40 happened at 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 UTC).

SpaceX is set to launch two prototype probes Wednesday to begin testing spacecraft and antenna technology the company hopes will eventually power a network of thousands of satellites blanketing planet Earth with broadband Internet coverage.

The next time astronauts land on the moon, they will ride to the lunar surface in a spacecraft that looks a lot different than the Apollo-era landing module last used in 1972. Lander concepts proposed by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics — which won a combined $967 million in NASA funding Thursday — take wildly different approaches to carrying crews to the moon.