Tag Archives: Spy satellite

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle takes off from New Zealand Thursday on the NROL-199 mission. Nine Rutherford engines powered the rocket off the pad. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab launched its third mission in a little more than five weeks Thursday in New Zealand, deploying a small classified payload in orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office and continuing the busiest ...

 A classified mapping satellite rode a Soyuz rocket into space Thursday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the fifth mission of the year to deploy a Russian military payload in orbit. The Russian military satellite launched at 4:03 a.m. EDT (0803 GMT) Thursday from Plesetsk, a military spaceport about 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow in Arkhangelsk Oblast. A Soyuz-2.1a ...