SpaceX's Midnight Spy Satellite Launch Quietly Set a New Landing Record
Falcon Heavy launched its first NRO mission while SpaceX landed four boosters in a single day for the first time.
SpaceX closed out one of its busiest days ever with a midnight Falcon Heavy launch from Florida, and the rocket's two side boosters returned to finish off a landing record the company had never set before.
Falcon Heavy lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 11:54 p.m. ET Thursday carrying NROL-97, a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. It was the first time the NRO has flown on Falcon Heavy after 22 missions on Falcon 9, and the first NRO mission bought through the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 2 contract awarded in 2025.
Roughly eight minutes after liftoff, side boosters B1104 and B1072 touched down at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. B1104 was flying for the second time and B1072 for the fourth — both had last flown on August 30 on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, making NROL-97 the quickest turnaround between Falcon Heavy missions to date. The brand new center core, B1106, was expended in the Atlantic so the payload could reach its high energy orbit.
The two landings capped a historic day for SpaceX. Earlier Thursday, Falcon 9 booster B1101 returned to Landing Zone 40 after sending Crew-13 astronauts to the International Space Station, and another Falcon 9 launched the Transporter-18 rideshare with 130 payloads from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. According to Spaceflight Now, it was the first time SpaceX has landed four boosters in a single day.
The mission also brought Landing Zone 1 back for what may be its final landing. SpaceX first landed an orbital class booster there in December 2015, but its lease on the former Launch Complex 13 site ended in 2025 as the company moved Florida landings to new pads. With LZ-40 already holding the Crew-13 booster, SpaceX brought LZ-1 back into service for one more night.
NROL-97 adds to a fast-growing portfolio of national security work for SpaceX. The company has flown four Space Force missions from Vandenberg since mid-August, several believed to carry Starshield satellites, pushing its Pentagon contract total for 2026 past $8 billion.
Reporting by Teslarati. Read the original report: SpaceX's midnight spy satellite launch quietly set a new record.
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