Launches / Falcon 9 Block 5

Past launch Launched successfully

NROL-145

Falcon 9 Block 5, flown by SpaceX

Falcon 9 Block 5 lifting off with the NROL-145 mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was SpaceX's 46th launch of 2025, and its 495th in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 81st orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the 15th from Space Launch Complex 4E.

Launched
Sunday, April 20, 2025, 12:29 p.m. UTC
Window
Sunday, April 20, 2025, 10:27 a.m. to 2:56 p.m. UTC
Launch site
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Rocket
Falcon 9 Block 5
Operator
SpaceX

Watch the webcast →

The mission

Tenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to provide imaging and other reconnaissance capabilities.

Type
Government/top secret

The rocket

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

Height
70 m
Built by
SpaceX
First flew
May 11, 2018
Lifts to low Earth orbit
22,800 kg
View 5 specifications Show less
Lifts to geostationary transfer
8,300 kg
Diameter
3.7 m
Mass at liftoff
549 t
Thrust at liftoff
7,607 kN
Stages
2

627 flights, 626 of them successful. 612 boosters brought back from 617 attempts.

spacex.com → Wikipedia →

The operator

SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
USA
Founded
2002
Run by
Elon Musk, CEO

724 launches so far, 709 of them successful. The last 209 in a row went to plan.

spacex.com → Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.

See the pad on a map →

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