Skip to main content

How to watch SpaceX launch a U.S. spy satellite today

SpaceX will shortly be launching a satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in a mission called NROL-85. The launch will use one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets to carry the NROL-85 spacecraft into orbit and will take place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch will be livestreamed, and we’ve got the details on how to watch along at home.

NROL-85 Mission

“The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched the NROL-87 mission in February 2022,” SpaceX writes. “Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return and land on Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.”

How to watch the launch

The launch will be livestreamed by SpaceX, with coverage beginning around 15 minutes before liftoff. The coverage will include the countdown ignition sequence, the liftoff, the ascent of the rocket and Max Q (the point of maximum stress on the rocket), then the separation of the first and second stages, deployment of the fairing, and separation of the payload.

As is typical for SpaceX, the coverage will also include the landing of the first stage booster for future reuse. Reusable first stages have become SpaceX’s signature, with the boosters coming in to land typically on droneships positioned out at sea. This launch is somewhat unusual in that the first stage will come in to land on solid ground rather than in the ocean, but this is a feat that SpaceX has managed in the past, with boosters landing at Cape Canaveral in Florida on several previous occasions.

You can watch the launch livestream either using the video embedded near the top of this page, or by heading to SpaceX’s YouTube channel. Coverage will begin at around 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. PT) today, Sunday, April 17.

Editors' Recommendations

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
How to watch SpaceX launch the third flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday
Starship stacked

SpaceX has announced when it will hold the next test of its Starship rocket. Itwill be the third test flight of the vehicle to date. The launch aims to send the vehicle, consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, on a new trajectory, with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX will be live-streaming the launch, and we have the details on how to watch below.

Read more
SpaceX’s mighty Starship rocket stacked for 3rd test flight
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft stacked atop the Super Heavy booster ahead of its third test flight.

SpaceX's Starship spacecraft stacked atop the Super Heavy booster ahead of its third test flight. SpaceX

SpaceX has stacked the Starship rocket in preparation for its third test flight.

Read more
How to watch homecoming SpaceX astronauts fly overhead on Tuesday
SpaceX's Crew-6 reentering Earth's atmosphere.

SpaceX’s Crew-7 astronauts undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 11:20 a.m. ET on Monday after a six-and-a-half-month stay aboard the orbital outpost.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are expected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico at around 5:50 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning. If the skies are clear, folks in more than a dozen states will be able to witness the crew’s homecoming as the capsule flies overhead.

Read more