The Space Force doesn’t do press viewing for Starlink launches, a good thing since there are so many of them. That said, there are some really interesting views from public viewing spots, like this one on 528W in Cape Canaveral. Click here to see my favorite public viewing spots.
SpaceX added to its roster of Starlink satellites when it launched the Starlink Group 6-90 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Liftoff was at 3:26 PM ET and into clear skies with temperatures hovering around 70ºF (21ºC)
SpaceX launched a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on December 9, 2025, aboard Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 02:16:25pm ET into leaden skies, with the rocket quickly behind the clouds, probably much to the delight of NRO. The launch direction was northeast.
At T+08:17s was NROL-77 was in its initial orbit and roughly eleven seconds later, Booster 1096 returned to land safely at LZ-2 inside Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at T+08:28s.
SpaceX Falcon 9, carrying the NROL-77 mission for NRO, lifts off on December 9, 2025. Photo: Charles Boyer
SpaceX launched a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office today aboard Falcon 9.
Liftoff was at 02:16:25pm ET into leaden skies, with the rocket quickly behind the clouds, probably much to the delight of NRO. The launch direction was northeast.
At T+08:17s was NROL-77 was in its initial orbit and roughly eleven seconds later, Booster 1096 returned to land safely at LZ-2 inside Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at T+08:28s.
That, in a nutshell, is pretty much all that’s publicly known about the mission.
At 6:00 PM NRO announced the mission was a success.
MISSION SUCCESS: NROL-77 launched today at 2:16 p.m. ET on a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This successful mission highlights the close working partnership between NRO and @USSF_SSC.
NROL created a flying squirrel logo for their secret-squirrel launch today.
SpaceX will be launching a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office today from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral. Liftoff is at 2:16:25 PM, in an instantaneous window, and about 8.5 minutes later, the booster used for the mission will land at LZ-2 inside Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Expect a sonic boom to rattle the windows a short time afterwards as the booster heralds its return.
At A Glance
Launch Preview — At a Glance
As of: December 9, 2025 (America/New_York)
Mission
Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-77
Status
Go for Launch Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Rocket
Falcon 9 (Block 5)
Operator
SpaceX
Launch Site
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40)
Window
Opens: Tuesday, December 9, 2025 — 2:16:25 PM ET
Closes: Tuesday, December 9, 2025 — 2:16:25 PM ET
(Instantaneous window)
Destination
Unknown (classified)
Mission Notes
Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
Tip: Times are shown in Eastern Time (America/New_York). Launch schedules can change quickly due to weather and range operations.
Weather
Weather is just about perfect, according the 45th Weather Squadron of Space Launch Delta 45. Their Launch Mission Execution Forecast gives a greater than 95% chance of acceptable weather at launch time:
Credit: US Space Force. Retrieved 09:30am December 9, 2025
Trajectory
NROL-76 is expected to have a launch azimuth of ~43–45°, or northeast.
Online Viewing
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: NROL-77 This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about fifteen minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
If you are watching in person on the Space Coast, remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Limits on some general aviation operations at 12 airports
Limits on some visual flight rule approaches at facilities with staffing triggers
Limits on commercial space launches and reentries to the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time
Limits on parachute operations and photo missions near facilities with staffing triggers
Only three days earlier, on November 13, the FAA had “made permanent” the rules it rescinded yesterday.
“Today’s decision to rescind the order reflects the steady decline in staffing concerns across the NAS and allows us to return to normal operations,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “I am grateful for the hard work of the FAA safety and operations teams and for their focus on the safety of the traveling public.”
Good News For SpaceX Especially
The rescission of the emergency order is good news for all launch services companies, but especially for SpaceX. They have a high cadence of Starlink launches on both coasts, and while they usually launch in the late hours of the evening or early hours overnight, there are many times when orbital mechanics demand a launch between 6am and 10pm — the hours formerly restricted.
Tomorrow’s Starlink launch, for example. The launch window opens at 6:29 PM ET, and extends until 10:29 PM ET the same day. While SpaceX could have waited until 10 PM to launch Starlink 6-94, they would undoubtedly prefer to have the ability launch earlier legally.
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-94 — Go for Launch!
Organization
SpaceX
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
Falcon 9
Pad
Space Launch Complex 40
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Tuesday, 11/18/2025 6:29:00 PM
Window Closes
Tuesday, 11/18/2025 10:29:00 PM
Destination
Low Earth Orbit
Mission Description
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project
for space-based Internet communication system.
Good things come to those who wait, or so goes the old saying. For Blue Origin and the second flight of New Glenn, the second flight of New Glenn was definitely worth that wait: a flawless liftoff, flight to orbit and a booster safely landed aboard Jacklyn, the company’s landing platform stationed offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Not a bad day’s work.
New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited at 3:55:01 PM ET Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the rocket began its slow climb into space.
ULA Atlas V ViaSat-3 liftoff. Credit: United Launch Alliance
On an Atlas V 551 rocket, United Launch Alliance successfully launched the ViaSat-3 Flight 2 (F2) mission for Viasat, Inc. Liftoff was at 10:04 p.m. ET from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission was a success.
This launch concluded a rare day at The Cape: two different rockets from two different manufacturers launching on the same day, with none of them being a Falcon 9. SpaceX is well known for launching twice in one day from the Eastern Range, but this time was a bit different: Blue Origin was launching New Glenn for only the second time, and later, ULA was launching Atlas V on its last mission past low-earth orbit. There are only 11 launches left for Atlas V: six Starliner flights (if they happen) and five Project Kuiper (now Amazon LEO) missions.
In a post-flight press release, Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Program said, “At ULA, we pride ourselves in delivering our customer’s spacecraft precisely to orbit and serving as the catalyst for our customers to enable global connectivity. We partner in the shared goals of connecting the world and this successful launch aligns with this core mission. Thank you Viasat for your trust in our shared visions and successful partnership.”
For this mission, the Atlas V 551 configuration placed the ViaSat-3 F2 ultra-high-capacity broadband satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Once operational, the spacecraft is expected to substantially boost both the capacity and adaptability of Viasat’s global, multi-orbit network, which serves consumer, commercial and government users. Engineered to add 1 Tbps of throughput to that network, ViaSat-3 F2 will help meet rising demand for secure, dependable, high-bandwidth connectivity services across the Americas.
File photo of Atlas V at SLC-41. Photo: Charles Boyer
A rare launch doubleheader — one that does not involve SpaceX — is planned for today from Cape Canaveral. First, in the afternoon, Blue Origin will make another attempt to get New Glenn off of the pad at LC-36A, and later in the evening, ULA will make a second attempt to launch Atlas V and the ViaSat-3 mission.
Both missions were delayed from their original launch attempts by scrubs: Blue Origin because of weather, then solar storms, ULA by a faulty valve that the company replaced on the rocket.
At A Glance
New Glenn
Organization
Blue Origin
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
New Glenn
Pad
Launch Complex 36A
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 2:57 PM
Window Closes
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 4:25 PM
Destination
Mars Orbit
Mission Description
Second flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn carrying the EscaPADE dual-spacecraft mission (UC Berkeley) to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars, energy/momentum transport from the solar wind through Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere, and how energy and matter flow into and out of the collisional atmosphere.
As of 8:59 AM Thursday November 13, 2025. Launch assignments and times are subject to change or cancellation at any time. Consult
BlueOrigin.com for updates.
Atlas-V
Organization
United Launch Alliance
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
Atlas V 551
Pad
Space Launch Complex 41
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 10:04 PM
Window Closes
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 10:48 PM
Destination
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
Mission Description
The ViaSat-3 series comprises three Ka-band high-capacity satellites; each is designed for >1 Tbps of network capacity with flexible, regionally targetable coverage.
Launch times are subject to change or cancellation at any time.
Weather
Oddly, at the time of this writing, the 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force’s Launch Delta 45 has removed their Launch Mission Execution Forecast for Blue Origin’s New Glenn. They do have yesterday’s LMEF for Atlas V:
Solar activity is still expected to be high, and Spaceweather.com is saying that, “Currently, storm levels are bouncing between category G1 (Minor) and G3 (Strong) as solar wind blows around Earth faster than 900 km/s. NOAA forecasters say there is also a lingering chance of severe G4-class storms on Nov. 13th.”
While that is an improvement from yesterday, it is still possible that mission managers for either launch may look at the current conditions and demur due to the impacts of Sunspot 2247. One thing is for sure: Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance and the 45th Weather Squadron have better space weather resources — experts, data, etc. — than the general public. If mission managers are confident, it’s with good reason.
As always, take a “we’ll see what happens” attitude, a comfortable chair and something cool to drink while you wait.
New Glenn standing on its launch pad at LC-36A in Cape Canaveral. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Launch Viewing: In Person
LC-36A is clearly visible all the way down Cocoa beach, the closest being the pier at Jetty Park. Also close to SLC-36 is The Banana River Bridge. This will be a relatively big launch, and if you plan to go to one of the more popular spots for Blue Origin’s launch attempt, go early.
More or less the same spots will work later in the evening for Atlas V, but given that SLC-41 is further north than LC-36A, the southern Titusville Parks or roadside off of 528W at the Banana River bridge might be a wee bit better than the beaches.
Free Advice
Watch the YouTube streams for the latest/greatest information. Things change pretty fast as the countdown heads towards zero, and Will Robinson-Smith on Spaceflight Now or the announcers on Blue Origin’s live stream will keep you up to date.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
I nearly deleted this from my card when I saw it on the camera. The lens was a 16mm/2.8, I hated the barrel distortion and the overall softness of the shot. Then I looked at it on a laptop, and hmmm, that is actually pretty sharp. You can see the first stage for quite a long way if you look full size.
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