Audience members at the Santa Barbara Bowl turned their backs from the stage to watch a Falcon rocket's flight Friday night, cheering and clapping the unofficial act that occurred after Modern English finished playing.
Audience members at the Santa Barbara Bowl turned their backs from the stage to watch a Falcon rocket's flight Friday night, cheering and clapping the unofficial act that occurred after Modern English finished playing. Credit: Kyle Martin photo

A busy month of launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base continued Friday night when a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at twilight to deliver clandestine cargo into orbit. 

The two-stage rocket built by the SpaceX blasted off at 8:14 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 as clear skies for some areas again rewarded spectators for the dusk departure.

Audience members attending the Totally Tubular Festival at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Friday clapped and cheered as the rocket rose away from the Central Coast.

While looking up at the sky to catch a glimpse of the flight, they turned their backs to the stage, where Modern English had just finished performing. 

The rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency responsible for top-secret satellites. 

NRO officials remained mum about the NROL-186 mission beyond confirming the rocket carried a second set of satellites for its next-generation system. 

More than an hour after liftoff, NRO called the mission successful which confirmed the payload arrived in orbit after the launch. 

The agency would not comment about how many satellites rode aboard the rocket, but NRO’s mission in May reportedly carried approximately 20.

At the time, NRO said the rocket marked the first for “the proliferated systems featuring responsive collection and rapid data delivery,” or a set of smaller satellites rather than one behemoth spacecraft.

The second launch of the NRO’s proliferated architecture “signifies the persistent pace of deployment that is expected with this program,” according to NRO.

“Our new, proliferated systems enhance our ability to collect and deliver critical information at the speed our users demand,” said Dr. Chris Scolese, director of the NRO. “The diversity of our overhead architecture allows us to remain agile and resilient amid increasing competition and emerging threats, ensuring we are well positioned now and in the future to deliver on our mission of keeping our nation safe.”

NRO expects to conduct approximately six launches supporting its proliferated architecture this year, but it’s not clear if all those will occur from Vandenberg. They also expect additional launches through 2028.

This was first-stage booster’s eighth flight with missions conducted from both Florida and California. 

Some eight minutes after departure, the first-stage booster returned to land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Pacific Ocean, clearing the way for carrying other payloads in the future.

Friday’s launch marked the seventh in June from Vandenberg, and the 25th of the year from the base. 

Along with the SpaceX rocket, other launches include a pair of unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles on separate days, and a Minotaur rocket. 

Vandenberg possibly could squeeze in one additional launch this month as Firefly Aerospace may try to get its fifth mission off the ground Sunday night from Space Launch Complex-2 at the base, according to notices released ahead of a mission.

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.