SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying U.S. Space Force's advanced anti-jamming GPS III-SV09 spacecraft, lifted off at 0453 UTC on Jan. 28, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
After stage separation, the Falcon 9 first stage booster, B1096, returned to Earth and landed safely on a SpaceX autonomous drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean about 8 minutes after liftoff—this marked the 141st landing on a drone ship and the 564th Falcon 9 booster landing in SpaceX’s history. B1096 had previously flown four times on missions for NASA, the U.S. military, Amazon’s Kuiper project, and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
The payload was deployed into medium Earth orbit, an altitude of 4,265 kilometers, about 90 minutes after liftoff, marking a key step in modernizing the U.S. Global Positioning System.
GPS III-SV09, a next-generation navigation satellite built by Lockheed Martin, is equipped with M-Code, a secure military GPS signal that is significantly more resistant to jamming and interference than previous systems, according to Space Force officials. GPS IIIF is the next iteration of satellites the U.S. will use for positioning, navigation and timing. (The "F" stands for "follow-on.") The first of these spacecraft is expected to launch in Spring 2027.
The first GPS III vehicle lifted off in December 2018. As its name suggests, GPS III-SV09 was the ninth, out of a planned total of 10, to reach orbit. The final one in the series is expected to go up later this year.
GPS III-SV09 is named in honor of Colonel Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian American astronaut, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986—a poignant coincidence given the launch date. Other former astronauts have been so honored as well. For example, GPS III-SV05 was named after Apollo 11 moonwalker Neil Armstrong, and GPS III-SV07 carries the moniker "Sally Ride," after the first American woman to reach space.
'Ellison Onizuka' was originally booked to fly on Vulcan Centaur, United Launch Alliance's powerful new rocket. But the Space Force changed that plan. This mission was part of the U.S. Space Force’s rapid-response launch initiative, demonstrating the ability to shorten timelines for critical national security missions.
"For this launch, we traded a GPS III mission from a Vulcan to a Falcon 9, then exchanged a later GPS IIIF mission from a Falcon Heavy to a Vulcan," U.S. Space Force Col. Ryan Hiserote, SYD 80 Commander and National Security Space Launch program manager, said in an emailed statement on Jan. 22.
"Our commitment to keeping things flexible — programmatically and contractually — means that we can pivot when necessary to changing circumstances," he added. "We have a proven ability to adapt the launch manifest to complex and dynamic factors and are continuing to shorten our timelines for delivering critical capabilities to warfighters."
GPS III-9 was SpaceX’s second national security mission of 2026 and the third rapid-accelerated mission for the U.S. Space Force under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. The mission was managed by Space Systems Command (SSC) and Mission Delta 31, with System Delta 80 (SYD 80) overseeing the NSSL program.
