SpaceX to launch first national security space mission Sunday

By Courtney Albon / April 28, 2017 at 1:54 PM

SpaceX is slated to launch its first national security space satellite this weekend, a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload.

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the NROL-76 satellite will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center sometime between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Sunday, April 30. The company plans to recover the rocket's first stage with a landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.

Sunday's launch is the company's first national security space mission since it was certified to fly Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class missions in 2015. It won the launch over United Launch Alliance, which has essentially had a monopoly on the NSS launch market since it was formed in 2006.

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