A Falcon 9 heads to orbit with a payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Image: SpaceX.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) began start building a constellation of unknown size with a middle-of-the-night launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission, dubbed NROL-146, featured an undisclosed number of satellites riding onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.