March 24 (UPI) -- SpaceX on Monday launched a Falcon 9 rocked carrying a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Liftoff was at 1:48 p.m. from Pad 40, and the first stage landed about 8 minutes later at Landing Zone 1 at the station in Florida.
Weather was 95% favorable, according to SpaceX officials.
This was its second flight for the first-stage booster with the previous launch of Starlink satellites on Feb. 27.
In partnership with SpaceX, the Defense Department's National Reconnaissance Office Launch has sent 150 satellites in space over the past two years, "creating the largest and most capable government constellation on orbit in our nation's history," the agency said in a news release.
NROL-69 is the first NRO mission launched with SpaceX from the phase 2 contract signed in August 2020.
This launch "is an important step in safeguarding our nation's interests in space," said Col. Eric Zarybnisky, director of NRO's Office of Space Launch. "Together, we are advancing national security by ensuring the U.S. maintains resilient and cost-effective space capabilities to meet evolving threats and deliver vital intelligence."
It was the 25th orbital rocket launch thus far this year from the two launch sites in Florida: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
The last launch was a SpaceX Falcon 9 with Starlink satellites on Tuesday.
At this rate, SpaceX will surpass the annual record of 93 last year, Florida Today reported.
The private company is targeting 11:20 p.m. March 31 to launch Fram2, the first crewed spaceflight to orbit above Earth's polar regions. The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
> The Fram2 crew completed training this week in California, and early this morning, the Dragon supporting their mission arrived at the hangar at pad 39A in Florida ahead of liftoff next Monday, March 31 pic.twitter.com/yDt8ihYqHI— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 22, 2025
Except for Apollo lunar missions from 1968 to 1972, the North and South Poles have not been fully visible to other astronauts in orbit.