SpaceX completes three launches in under 13 hours, capped by first Falcon Heavy flight for the NRO

SpaceX has completed a triple-launch day, lifting off three rockets in 12 hours 44 minutes on Thursday and capping the run with the first-ever Falcon Heavy flight for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The classified NROL-97 payload lifted off at 11:54 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. It was the first NRO mission to fly on a Falcon Heavy, after 22 previous NRO payloads launched on Falcon 9 rockets over the past nine years.

The rocket’s center core was expended, but the two side boosters touched down at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral about eight minutes later. SpaceX ended its livestream after the landings and gave no update on the upper stage or the classified payload. The boosters were on their second and fourth flights, having previously carried the GOES-U, Viasat-3 F3 and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope missions.

The day began at 11:10 a.m. EDT with NASA’s Crew-13 mission, which sent NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov to the International Space Station, docking 7 hours 55 minutes after liftoff. At 2:32 p.m. EDT, the Transporter-18 rideshare left Vandenberg Space Force Base with 130 payloads, including Google’s Project Suncatcher AI-computing prototype and three Indian payloads.

SpaceX landed four boosters across the day — a first for the company.

Sources

• Starlust — “Watch: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launches NROL-97, its first classified mission for U.S. government” — https://starlust.org/watch-space-xs-falcon-heavy-rocket-successfully-launches-nrol-97-its-first-classified-mission-for-u-s-government/
• Wall Street Next — “SpaceX Uses Heavy Rocket for Secret Satellite Launch for the First Time” — https://wsnext.com/7e00351-Commercial-Spaceflight-Defense-Contracting/
• Spaceflight Now — “Falcon Heavy flies its first mission for U.S. spy satellite agency” — https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/10/01/falcon-heavy-to-fly-its-first-mission-for-u-s-spy-satellite-agency/
• USA Today — “SpaceX Crew-13 reaches ISS in record time after Florida launch” — https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/space/2026/10/02/nasa-spacex-crew-13-iss-photos/92038269007/
• NASA — “NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13” — https://www.nasa.gov/event/nasas-spacex-crew-13/
• The Hindu — “Multiple Indian payloads launched by Space X’s Falcon 9” — https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/multiple-indian-payloads-launched-by-space-xs-falcon-9/article71535904.ece
• The Tribune (ANI) — “Google’s ‘Project Suncatcher’ takes flight as SpaceX launches Falcon 9 to test AI chips in orbit” — https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/usa-news/googles-project-suncatcher-takes-flight-as-spacex-launches-falcon-9-to-test-ai-chips-in-orbit/