The company has successfully returned the spent first stage of the carrier to Earth
SpaceX on Saturday launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a classified NROL-108 satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office.
“The launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, took place at 09:00 US East Coast Time. About eight minutes afterwards, SpaceX announced that it had successfully returned the spent first stage of the carrier to Earth. This element of the Falcon 9 has already been changed four times during the launch”, – the message said.
SpaceX clarified that this is the second launch the company has carried out for the National Office of Military and Space Intelligence. The first took place in 2017. The activities of National Office of Military and Space Intelligence, which controls US reconnaissance satellites, are strictly classified.