We were on break, so of course, all the rockets launched. There were four launches in total — two from China and two from the U.S. The two Chinese launches consisted of a new geostationary communications satellite called Chinasat 6D and a civilian environmental monitoring satellite called Daqi-1, which will be used to monitor the atmosphere.

The two American launches were both by SpaceX. As usual, they launched another batch of 53 Starlink satellites. The booster from that launch landed for the twelfth time on a droneship, making it just the second booster to do so.

The other SpaceX launch during our break was a west coast launch of a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in southern California that was on just its second flight. It was carrying the NROL-85 mission, a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. NROL-85 was the first NRO mission to launch on a reused Falcon 9, in this case, the booster from the NROL-87 mission only a few months ago. Yes, NROL-85 was launched after NROL-87 because NRO launch numbers are rarely, if ever, in sequential order.

As usual for national security missions, no details of the payload were disclosed. The webcast was treated to uninterrupted views from the first stage, showing the almost cloud-free California coast as it returned to the launch site after separating from the second stage. Return to Launch Site maneuvers to Vandenberg are always exciting because the landing pad is less than 500 meters from the launch pad.

SpaceX ended the webcast after landing, confirming mission success on Twitter later the day.

More Information

CASC press release

CASC press release

SpaceX mission page

SpaceX mission page