April 30th Is Target Date For Mission With Unspecified Payload

SpaceX is preparing for a launch on April 30th, but the payload is classified.

The customer is the National Reconnaissance Office, according to a report from the online news site The Observer. The launch window opens at 0700 ET, and the new Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A. A test-fire of the booster is planned for April 26th, according to an email received by the website's editors.

The launch is not on the SpaceX customer manifest. It will be the first time SpaceX has exclusively launched a classified payload for the NRO. The agency has previously used ULA for its launch provider.

Previously, an NRO cubesat was launched by SpaceX as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9 demonstration flight in 2010. If the launch goes well, the NRO is “anticipating the possibility of SpaceX supporting additional missions based on future competitions," according to a statement from an agency spokesman to Space News.

The mission for the classified satellite is also classified, but NRO satellites are used for surveillance activities for the Air Force, Navy, NSA and CIA.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.spacex.com, www.nro.gov