SpaceX launched its heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the classified NROL-97 satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on October 1, 2026, marking the spy agency’s first flight on the triple-core vehicle and initiating the NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 contract framework.
NROL-97 Launch and the $13.7 Billion NSSL Lane 2 Contract
The flight from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled to blast off at 11:53 p.m. EDT on October 1, 2026. This mission represents the opening operational act of the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 2 contract, a $13.7 billion framework that formalizes SpaceX as a provider for the United States government’s national security payloads through fiscal year 2029.
For the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the nation’s spy satellite fleet, the launch breaks a long-standing streak of relying exclusively on the smaller Falcon 9 vehicle. Since May 2017, SpaceX has flown 22 consecutive NRO missions on the Falcon 9, including missions such as NROL-108 in December 2020 and NSSL Phase 2 missions NROL-69 and NROL-77 in 2025.
While the Falcon 9 handles heavy workloads, its payload limit to low Earth orbit sits at roughly 22,800 kilograms. The Falcon Heavy more than triples that capacity to 63,800 kilograms, providing the necessary energy for demanding high-altitude or high-energy trajectories required by larger classified spacecraft.
Falcon Heavy Uses 27 Engines to Launch NROL-97
The Falcon Heavy combines three modified Falcon 9 first stages strapped together, utilizing 27 Merlin 1D engines to generate approximately 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. On the NROL-97 mission, the newly built center core, designated B1106, will be intentionally expended.
Meanwhile, the two side boosters are scheduled to separate and execute return maneuvers to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Booster B1072 flies for the fourth time, having previously supported the GOES-U weather satellite, the ViaSat-3 F3 commercial communications satellite, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Booster B1104 flies for the second time, with both side boosters having flown previously on August 30.
The simultaneous landing at Landing Zones 1 and 2 marks the first use of Landing Zone 1 since August 2025. SpaceX issued a sonic boom advisory for residents across Lucie and Okeechobee counties as the boosters break the sound barrier during descent.
Residents across a wide swath of Central Florida may hear multiple sonic booms rolling in from the coast as both boosters decelerate through the sound barrier on their return, marking the first time all three landing zones have been utilized simultaneously on the same day.
Mission Patch Honors 25th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks
The NROL-97 mission patch features distinct historical symbolism, incorporating Latin text and design elements honoring the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“The lighthouse characterizes enduring strength and the ability to provide information to those in need, even in difficult times. The endpoints of the light beam align to the locations of 9 and 11 on a clock face in honor of the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Four prominent stars represent the four aircraft lost on 9/11, and the moon phase is shown as it appeared on September 11, 2026.”
National Reconnaissance Office officials, via Space
The patch also bears the phrase Orbem mundi mutandum conservare,
translated as to preserve a changing world
or to preserve the world by transforming it.
The midnight flight caps an exceptionally busy schedule for the company. SpaceX successfully executed two other flights earlier in the day: launching the Crew-13 astronaut mission to the International Space Station on a Falcon 9 at 11:10 a.m. EDT, and lifting the Transporter-18 rideshare mission carrying 130 payloads at 2:18 p.m. EDT from its West Coast pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Combined with a Starship test flight earlier in the week, the company has operated across all three of its rocket classes within a three-day span.