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SpaceX is all set to make its first military launch on Sunday

The Launch Will Take Place With A Classified Payload For The National Reconnaissance Office, Which Makes And Operates Spy Satellites For The United States.

News Nation Bureau | Edited By : Bansuri Dass | Updated on: 30 Apr 2017, 12:24:37 PM
SpaceX is all set to make its first military launch on Sunday (Img Source: Twitter)

New Delhi:

California-based space company SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is all set to start it's journey to space from Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 30, at 7:00 AM. It is an attempt to make rocket parts recyclable, rather than abandoning the costly components after each launch

The launch will take place with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which makes and operates spy satellites for the United States.

The spacecraft shall break United Launch Alliance's 10-year monopoly on launching U.S. military and national security satellites.

The company has struggled for years to win the  rights to compete for the military's launch business, ultimately suing the Air Force, its prospective customer, to break United Launch Alliance's monopoly.

United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has flown nearly all of the country's major military and national security spacecraft since its formation in December 2006.

Also Read: NASA may delay $23 billion Orion spacecraft mission to Mars: All you need to know about world's most powerful rocket

The rocket is slated to lift off between 7 and 9 a.m. EDT (1100 to 1300 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch will take place with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates spy satellites for the United States. No details were made public about the payload, known only as NROL-76, which was first announced last year.

SpaceX has won two launch contracts from the Air Force to put GPS-3 satellites into orbit. SpaceX also has a pair of launch contracts coming up for the Air Force to send GPS satellites into orbit.

10 minutes after it's launch, the tall portion of the rocket, will power it's engines and fly back towards Earth to make a controlled landing on solid ground at SpaceX's Landing Zone 1.

SpaceX conducted a routine test fire of the rocket's first stage on Tuesday. 

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First Published : 29 Apr 2017, 12:07:00 PM

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