SpaceX launching mysterious RRT-1 mission from Florida tonight
SpaceX plans to launch a mystery mission from Florida’s Space Coast this evening (Dec. 13).
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 8:04 p.m. EDT (0104 GMT on Dec. 14), kicking off a mission that SpaceX calls RRT-1.
The company will livestream the action live via its X account, starting about 10 minutes before launch.
Many space observers think tonight’s launch is sending an advanced GPS satellite to orbit — specifically, GPS 3-10, another member of the venerable navigation network’s third generation of spacecraft. SpaceX holds a contract to launch three of these satellites for the U.S. military and has already sent one of them aloft, in January 2023.
Related: SpaceX launches advanced GPS satellite for US Space Force, nails the landing
But SpaceX’s mission description doesn’t say anything about GPS satellites; it doesn’t even explain what RRT-1 stands for, if that name is indeed an acronym. And the fairing that surrounds and protects the RRT-1 payload apparently features no artwork or logos, a departure from the norm that adds to the intrigue.
If all goes according to plan tonight, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch, touching down on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean. It will be the fourth liftoff and landing for this particular booster, according to SpaceX’s mission description.
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, will deploy the RRT-1 payload, whatever it may be, into orbit about 90 minutes after launch.
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