11:54 p.m. liftoff sent a Falcon Heavy into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, completing SpaceX’s late-night Florida launch.
The flight carried the National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-97 mission, marking the spy agency’s first use of Falcon Heavy under the NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 contract.
Two side boosters supporting the mission were reused again—their second and fourth flights after earlier GOES-U, Viasat-3 F3 and Roman Space Telescope launches.
The mission was SpaceX’s 14th Falcon Heavy flight, extending the heavy-lift rocket’s role in U.S. national security launches.