A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted the classified NROL-95 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office off Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:10 a.m. EDT (0710 UTC) on Thursday, July 30, 2026. The NRO later confirmed the satellite was deployed on orbit.
NSSL Phase 2 Mission For The Spy-Satellite Agency
NROL-95 was the third NRO mission procured to fly on Falcon 9 under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract managed by the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. The task order was awarded to SpaceX in August 2024.
Col. Kathryn Cantu, director of the NRO Office of Space Launch and mission director for NROL-95, said the launch "enables us to swiftly field resilient intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems while preserving the flexibility and persistence required to counter evolving challenges." The payload itself remains classified.
Booster B1096 Lands For The Seventh Time
The mission flew on Falcon 9 booster B1096, which returned about 8.5 minutes after liftoff to Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral. It was the 18th landing at LZ-2 and the 642nd successful booster recovery for SpaceX. B1096 previously supported NASA's IMAP, CRS-34, a Kuiper Falcon flight, NROL-77, GPS III-9, and Starlink 6-87.
Fourth NRO Launch Of 2026
NROL-95 became SpaceX's fourth NRO launch of 2026, following NROL-105 in January, NROL-172 in May and NROL-179 in June, all flown from Vandenberg. The cadence is helping the U.S. rebuild a distributed, resilient constellation of imagery and signals-intelligence satellites in low Earth orbit. The launch adds to a busy month that also included SpaceX's $1.6 billion NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 task order and its successful Starship Flight 13 Starlink V3 test. It also comes as the U.S. leans on commercial launch to keep pace with growing intelligence and defense demand across national security space.
Reporting based on coverage from Spaceflight Now, Space.com and the National Reconnaissance Office.