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SpaceX sends another classified military payload into orbit, launching a Falcon 9 rocket for the U.S. Space Force from California as the company carries out its second secretive mission in six days.
The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:36 p.m. local time on Wednesday (01:36 a.m. GMT on Nov. 12), kicking off the USSF-627 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East.
Neither SpaceX nor the U.S. Space Force has disclosed what the rocket carries or what the mission aims to accomplish, keeping the details of the military operation under wraps.
The launch comes less than a week after another Falcon 9 rocket departed from the same base on Nov. 6, carrying out the classified USSF-432 mission. The back-to-back flights add to SpaceX's growing role in deploying national security payloads for the U.S. military.
Although the payload remains classified, some experts speculate that USSF-627 and its predecessor could involve batches of Starshield satellites developed by SpaceX for military and intelligence operations.
The satellites are believed to support the Space Force's Space-Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, which helps the military track potential targets around the world. However, neither mission has been publicly linked to Starshield by SpaceX or the U.S. Space Force.
SpaceX also cut short its webcasts of both launches shortly after the Falcon 9 first stages returned to Earth, leaving viewers without further details about the missions.
Wednesday's launch marked the seventh flight of Falcon 9 booster 1103, which previously flew one National Reconnaissance Office mission, two Space Development Agency missions and three Starlink launches.
The reusable booster returned to Earth and landed on SpaceX's Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Pacific Ocean about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
USSF-627 was Falcon 9's 120th launch of 2026 and its 15th national security mission this year. Starlink launches accounted for 85 of those flights, expanding a low Earth orbit constellation of more than 11,000 satellites.
Falcon 9 remains behind last year's pace, when it completed 165 missions, including 122 Starlink launches.
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