A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 0051 UTC on Dec. 17. The RRT-1 mission was a "Rapid Response Trailblazer" launch that sent an advanced GPS satellite to orbit.
As is now routine, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, touching down on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic 0cean. It was the fourth liftoff and landing for this particular booster, according to SpaceX's mission description.
Meanwhile, the rocket's upper stage continued skywards carrying the RRT-1 payload toward orbit, where it deployed about 90 minutes after liftoff.
"The mission successfully demonstrated a complex integration effort across multiple Space Force organizations to pull an existing GPS III satellite from storage, accelerate integration and launch vehicle readiness, and rapidly process for launch." U.S. Space Force revealed Tuesday.
"This launch was a remarkable achievement that highlights the Space Force’s ability to execute high-priority launches of major space systems on a significantly reduced timescale," Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader of Launch Execution for Space Systems Command's Assured Access to Space division, said.
"In this case, revised planning for this RRT began at launch minus-five months instead of our normal launch minus-24 months," Horne added. "It not only demonstrates the teams’ ability to respond to emergent constellation needs but is a testament to our flexibility and responsiveness to deliver capability as rapidly as Space Vehicle readiness allows. In this case, it’s not just the warfighter, but also the nation and our allies around the world that rely on GPS on a daily basis."
SpaceX holds a contract to launch three of these GPS-3 satellites for the U.S. military and had already sent one of them aloft, in January 2023.
