KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - This week SpaceX blasted their first top secret surveillance satellite to orbit for America's spy chiefs at National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) affording magnificent viewing and imagery from the Florida Space Coast.
Liftoff of the classified NROL-76 payload for the NRO occurred soon after sunrise Monday morning, May 1, at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT), from SpaceX's seaside Launch Complex 39A on NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Less than nine minutes later, Space engineers managed to again recover the first stage booster by accomplishing a precise ground landing by perfectly targeting the vehicle for a propulsive soft landing at Cape Canaveral several miles south of the launch pad.
The stunning events were captured by journalists and tourists gathered from around the globe to witness history in the making with their own eyeballs.
Check out this expanding gallery of eyepopping photos and videos from several space journalist colleagues and friends and myself - for views you won't see elsewhere.
Click back as the gallery grows !
The milestone SpaceX mission to launch the first satellite in support of US national defense was apparently a complete success.
The NRO is a joint Department of Defense–Intelligence Community organization responsible for developing, launching, and operating America's intelligence satellites to meet the national security needs of our nation, according to the NRO.
Watch for Ken's continuing coverage direct from onsite at the Kennedy Space Center press site and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.
Ken Kremer
Blastoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 delivering NROL-76 spy satellite to orbit on 1 May 2017 for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: Julian Leek
Landing legs unfurl and lock in place mere seconds before soft landing via propulsive firing of SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster engines at Landing Zone 1 on Canaveral Air Force Station only 9 minutes after launch from pad 39A on 1 May 2017 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as seen from Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral, FL. Credit: Dawn Leek
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