A SpaceX Falcon with an unknown payload took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on the same day it was announced that Russia planned to deploy a nuclear weapon in space.
The launch took place on Wednesday afternoon, with cameras capturing the spectacular moment as the rocket from the secret national security mission USSF-124 appeared to cross the moon.
According to Space Force officials, who remained silent about the mission until this morning, the launch vehicle landed in SpaceX's landing zone eight minutes after liftoff, completing its seventh mission.
A second launch is scheduled for 1:05 a.m. Thursday, with Odysseus, Intuitive Machines' lunar lander, taking off for the IM-1 mission to the lunar surface.
SpaceX's double launch comes on the same day it was announced that members of Congress had been briefed on Moscow's plan to send a nuclear weapon into space to attack and destroy satellites on which the world depends.
A SpaceX Falcon carrying a mysterious payload took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on the same day it was announced that Russia planned to deploy a nuclear weapon in space
According to Space Force officials, who remained silent about the mission until this morning, the launch vehicle landed in SpaceX's landing zone eight minutes after liftoff, completing its seventh mission
A second launch is scheduled for 1:05 a.m. Thursday, with Odysseus, Intuitive Machines' lunar lander, taking off for the IM-1 mission to the lunar surface
According to a press release from Space
Falcon 9 is the safest and most experienced active American rocket and the only one currently certified to carry people to the International Space Station.
The Space Force announced Wednesday that USSF-124 will launch six satellites into orbit – two for the Missile Defense Agency and four for the Space Development Agency.
“With each national security launch, we continue to strengthen America’s capabilities and deterrence in the face of growing threats while ensuring stability in a very dynamic world,” said Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel officer for Space System Command’s Launch Execution Delta.
“This is what we do in the Space Force, and we take this mission seriously,” he added. But other details of the mission also remain secret.
SpaceX will launch IM-1 shortly after midnight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, located next to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Hours after the successful launch of Falcon 9, the Russian Progress 87 spacecraft was sent from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station.
Wednesday's mission comes as House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner of Ohio said members of Congress have been made aware of a threat related to Russia.
According to a press release from Space
Falcon 9 is the safest and most experienced active American rocket and the only one currently certified to carry people to the International Space Station
The Falcon 9 first stage booster landed in Landing Zone 2 at SpaceX's Space Force Station Cape Canaveral, completing its seventh mission
It later emerged that it was related to Moscow's plan to send a nuclear weapon into space to attack and destroy satellites on which the world depends, ABC News reported.
Turner called on the president to release the information so lawmakers could discuss the implications of the ominous warning, which sparked a White House response and intense speculation.
Moscow has already shown how deadly it can be from space by testing a hit-to-kill anti-satellite missile in 2021.
In the attack, Russia smashed a defunct spy satellite launched in 1982 into 1,500 pieces of debris, sparking global outrage.
In 2020, Moscow fired an anti-satellite weapon from its Cosmos 2543 satellite in orbit.
Vladimir Putin has also threatened the West with its deadliest hypersonic missile yet, which could fly into space and hit multiple targets on the ground.
The nuclear-capable Avangard missile, which is said to be capable of hitting targets at 27 times the speed of sound, is seen in new footage installed in an underground launch silo in Russia's Orenburg region.
According to Moscow, the 20,000 mile per hour rocket with a hypersonic glide vehicle will be able to leave Earth's atmosphere before hitting any target in the world in less than 30 minutes.
A senior Republican warned in a cryptic statement that there was a “serious national security threat” and called on President Joe Biden to release all related information
Russia blew up one of its own satellites with a rocket in 2021. Cosmos 1408, a defunct spy satellite launched in 1982, was the destroyed target, creating a field of 1,500 pieces of debris that endangered the crew of the ISS
Members of Congress or U.S. allies are not allowed to speak openly about the threat or work together on it until the report is declassified.
You can review information related to “destabilizing foreign military capabilities” today and tomorrow at a secure location at the Capitol.
“Today, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released information to all members of Congress about a serious threat to national security,” Turner said.
“I call on President Biden to declassify all information related to this threat so that Congress, the administration and our allies can openly discuss the actions needed to respond to this threat.”
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., was one of the first lawmakers to view the documents in the SCIF on Wednesday afternoon.
He told reporters that the threat was “not an immediate crisis, but certainly something that we need to take very seriously.”
“We have to deal with a lot of very volatile things.” “This is one of them,” he added.