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Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer A
SpaceXLaunch Successful

SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer A

Falcon 9 Block 5

Tranche 1 Transport Layer A is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites. The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance. This launch carries 21 satellites manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

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Mission status
Launch Successful

Status reported by the mission data provider.

LAUNCH SITEVandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Mission

Tranche 1 Transport Layer A is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites. The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance. This launch carries 21 satellites manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Launch vehicle
Falcon 9 Block 5
Mission type
Government/Top Secret
Destination orbit
Polar Orbit
Launch pad
Space Launch Complex 4E
Provider
SpaceX
Recovery
Return to Launch Site, Landing Zone 4 +1

The vehicle

Published configuration and flight history.

Falcon 9 Block 5
SpaceX
Launch vehicle

Falcon 9 Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

Height
70 m
Diameter
3.65 m
Stages
2
Recorded launches
637
First flight
2018-05-11
B1103
SpaceX
Core

B1103

Flight 6ReusedLanding successful
Recovery
Landing Zone 4
Landing method
Return to Launch Site

Recorded timing

Instantaneous windowRecorded timing
RECORDED MOMENT

A single moment in the published record. Recorded timing from the mission source.

Flight timeline

Planned sequence, not live telemetry. Times are relative to the launch target.

  1. T−00:38:00

    GO for Prop Load

  2. T−00:35:00

    Prop Load

  3. T−00:35:00

    Stage 1 LOX Load

  4. T−00:16:00

    Stage 2 LOX Load

  5. T−00:07:00

    Engine Chill

  6. T−00:01:00

    Startup

Show the full sequence (21 events)
  1. T−00:01:00

    Tank Press

  2. T−00:00:45

    GO for Launch

  3. T−00:00:03

    Ignition

  4. T+00:00:00

    Liftoff

  5. T+00:01:04

    Max-Q

  6. T+00:02:14

    MECO

  7. T+00:02:18

    Stage 2 Separation

  8. T+00:02:25

    SES-1

  9. T+00:02:31

    Booster Boostback Burn Startup

  10. T+00:03:04

    Fairing Separation

  11. T+00:03:24

    Booster Boostback Burn Shutdown

  12. T+00:06:09

    Entry Burn Startup

  13. T+00:06:21

    Entry Burn Shutdown

  14. T+00:07:15

    Stage 1 Landing Burn

  15. T+00:07:19

    Stage 1 Landing

Launch site & orbit

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

The mission in perspective

Launch site & orbit

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Understand this orbit

Explore Earth & Moon · this mission view is an illustration

NASA Blue Marble map of Earth's continents and oceans
Representative orbit · accelerated illustrationNo live tracking or simulated ascent. NASA Blue Marble.

Coverage & sources

Source record updated