A Falcon 9 rocket blasts off as the marine layer hovers over Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday evening. The rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
A Falcon 9 rocket blasts off as the marine layer hovers over Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday evening. The rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: SpaceX photo

A Falcon 9 rocket rose away from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday evening as the nation’s spy-satellite agency continues its largest transformation during its 60-year history.

The SpaceX rocket blasted off at 7:13 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 on the South Base. The first-stage booster landed minutes later on the droneship positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

The rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which remained mum about the number of satellites on board and the specific mission.

After years of launching massive satellites several years apart, the NRO announced several years ago that the agency would switch to sending dozens of small craft into space to conduct the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles.

“Today, I can report that those goals are no longer aspirational,” Bill Adkins, principal deputy director of the NRO, said last month at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado. “The NRO has been delivering — and often exceeding — those commitments.

“The NRO has been methodically delivering on, and often even surpassing, its commitments — in two short years, going from announcing the first phase of our proliferated architecture to it being operational and performing better than expected.”

With a camera looking back toward Earth, a Falcon 9 rocket climbs above the marine layer hovering over Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday evening. The rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
With a camera looking back toward Earth, a Falcon 9 rocket climbs above the marine layer hovering over Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday evening. The rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: SpaceX photo

In 2025, the NRO’s proliferated architecture, or multiple satellites, captured more than 400,000 collections — “an incredibly large data set.”

The agency has seen more than 200 satellites placed in orbit in recent years via launches aboard from multiple locations, including Vandenberg.

“Collectively, our constellation is shortening revisit times and increasing observational persistence, accompanied by improved resilience and security,” Adkins said. “Simply put, we’re making it much harder for adversaries to hide, while at the same time constraining their ability to interfere with, or eliminate, our capabilities.”

The mission, dubbed NROL-172, marked the 13th for the agency’s proliferated architecture, or new approach involving multiple small satellites.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of liftoff Monday night.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of liftoff Monday night. Credit: Contributed photo

“Building on this momentum, 2026 is poised to be another dynamic year with a robust launch schedule,” NRO representatives said after the launch. “Many of these missions will advance the NRO’s proliferated architecture, with additional proliferated launches planned through 2029 to ensure sustained growth and innovation.”

NRO’s previous launch from Vandenberg occurred in January.

The next SpaceX launch from the Central Coast location is aiming for Friday morning with Starlink satellites.

— 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.