A classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office is heading to orbit in the predawn hours of Thursday, July 30.
The NROL-95 mission will launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 is scheduled for 3:09 a.m. EDT (0709 UTC).
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 70 percent chance for favorable weather during Thursday’s launch opportunity. Meteorologists said they are monitoring the possibility of interference from cloud cover and thunderstorms.
“Significant weather model ambiguity remains regarding the longevity, extent and location of remnant storms and associated cloud cover during the overnight periods, thus the threat of weather violations for the primary and secondary launch opportunities will remain higher than
typical values for summer overnight launches, albeit with still a decent potential for acceptable weather,” launch weather officers wrote.
SpaceX will launch the mission using the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number B1096. This will be its seventh flight following the launch of NASA’s IMAP and CRS-34; Kuiper Falcon 1; NROL-77; GPS III-9; and Starlink 6-87.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1096 will target a landing at Landing Zone 2 at the Cape. If successful, this will be the 18th landing at this site and the 642nd booster landing for SpaceX.
The NROL-95 mission was the third mission procured for the NRO and launched on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract, managed by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command.
The NROL-95 task order was awarded to SpaceX in August 2024.
