National Reconnaissance Office

Top secret NRO payload installed on Minotaur rocket for launch from Virginia

July 4, 2020

Crews working on Virginia’s Eastern Shore this week raised a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office — the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency — atop a solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket for liftoff July 15 on the first Minotaur launch in nearly three years.

University-built CubeSat launched with swarm of auroral science nodes

June 13, 2020

Rocket Lab successfully launched five small satellites from New Zealand Saturday for customers in the United States and Australia, including a CubeSat with a novel swarm of tiny magnetometers to measure the plasma currents that shape colorful auroras.

Live coverage: Rocket Lab back in action with twilight launch in New Zealand

June 10, 2020

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket took off at 1:12 a.m. EDT (0512 GMT) Saturday carrying five payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and the University of New South Wales at Canberra in Australia. The launch was the first for Rocket Lab since January due to delays related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Spy satellite launch on Delta 4-Heavy rocket delayed to August

May 8, 2020

The next flight of United Launch Alliance’s triple-barrel Delta 4-Heavy rocket has been delayed from June to late August, military officials said Friday.

ULA delivers Delta 4-Heavy rocket to California launch base

April 16, 2020

United Launch Alliance’s rocket transport ship has delivered a Delta 4-Heavy rocket to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for launch of a U.S. government spy satellite late this year.

Citing coronavirus concerns, Rocket Lab pauses launch operations

March 26, 2020

Rocket Lab says it has paused launch operations after the government of New Zealand this week ordered most businesses closed and urged people to stay at home in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rocket Lab successfully launches NRO satellite

January 31, 2020

A light-class Electron launcher built and owned by Rocket Lab fired into orbit Thursday (U.S. time) from a privately-owned spaceport in New Zealand with a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

Live coverage: Rocket Lab conducts first Electron launch of 2020

January 30, 2020

Rocket Lab’s first mission of 2020 lifted off from New Zealand’s North Island at 9:56 p.m. EST Thursday (0256 GMT; 3:56 p.m. New Zealand time Friday) with a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which owns the U.S. government’s fleet of intelligence-gathering spy satellites.

NRO, the U.S. spy satellite agency, preps for first dedicated launch on foreign soil

January 21, 2020

Rocket Lab’s first mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, which owns the U.S. government’s fleet of intelligence-gathering satellites, is scheduled to launch from New Zealand as soon as Jan. 30 (U.S. time), officials announced Monday.

AEHF satellite arrives in Florida for first of nearly 20 Space Force launches this year

January 13, 2020

The sixth and final satellite in the U.S. military’s network of ultra-secure, nuclear-hardened AEHF communications relay stations has arrived in Florida for final preparations for liftoff in March on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the first of nearly 20 U.S. Space Force missions planned for launch in the first year of operations for the new military service.