SpaceX launches classified payload for US
MIAMI A SpaceX rocket yesterday blasted off with a US government payload known only as NROL-76, marking the first military launch for the California-based aerospace company headed by billionaire Elon Musk.
The payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which makes and operates spy satellites for the United States, soared into the sky atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 7.15am (7.15pm Singapore time).
POSTPONED
The launch was initially planned for Sunday, but it was postponed in the last seconds before lift-off because of a sensor issue with the rocket, SpaceX said.
The sensor in question was replaced ahead of yesterday's attempt. Little was known about the payload due to its classified nature.
"As a matter of policy and because of classification, NRO does not provide information about our contracts," a spokesman told AFP.
Until now, the US military had spent billions a year exclusively with United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint operation of aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch government satellites.
UNFAIR
SpaceX in 2014 protested the US Air Force's practice of using only ULA, saying it unfairly awarded billions of dollars to a single company for national security launches. SpaceX was selected to launch NROL-76 "after a competition", said the NRO spokesman.
She said she did not know when the contract was awarded. The contract was first announced last year.
SpaceX regularly launches unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station and is working on a crew capsule that could carry humans into orbit as early as next year.
-AFP
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