SpaceX launches 21 Northrop Grumman military satellites, sticks landing

SpaceX launched 21 Northrop Grumman-built data transport satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency on a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 12:39 a.m. PDT on October 10, 2026, five days after an automatic abort halted the first attempt. The first stage, on its sixth flight, landed at Landing Zone 4 a little over seven minutes after liftoff. It was the agency’s fourth Tranche 1 data transport launch, bringing 84 of the 126 Transport Layer satellites to orbit and adding a fourth plane to its military communications and missile-warning network. Video Credit: SpaceX