SpaceX Falcon 9 - NROL-76

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - NROL-76 - Launching May 1, 2017

Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of NROL-76 launch on May 1, 2017

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 FT - NROL-76

Written: January 28, 2021

Lift Off Time	May 1, 2017 - 11:15 UTC - 07:15 EDT
Mission Name	NROL-76
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	NRO National Reconnaissance Office
Rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1032-1
Launch Location	Kennedy Launch Complex 39A - LC-39A Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Payload	USA-276 Spy Satellite
Payload mass	Don’t ask a lady’s weight. ? kg ~ ? pounds
Where are the satellite going?	Low Earth Orbit LEO - 402 km x 391 km x 50o
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	Yes - There is fuel enough for a return flight
Where will the first stage land?	LZ-1 - Three burns will return the booster
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	Yes - One fairing landed intact
Are these fairings new?	Yes - Two Type 1 boat hull sized fairings - 34 x 17 feet with 10 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle
This will be the:	– 33th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 13th flight of Falcon 9 Full Trust “V1.2” booster  – 12th maiden flight of a Falcon 9 FT rocket – 1st flight with a Block 4 second stage – 1st mission for the US Defense Community – 4th SpaceX launch from LC-39A – 3rd landing of Falcon 9 on LZ-1 – 10th booster landing overall – 5th mission for SpaceX in 2017
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Want to know more link ask Tim Dodd

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

T-00:11:26 Host: T-00:00:02 T 00:00:00 T+00:01:09 T+00:02:20 T+00:02:26 T+00:02:30 T+00:02:35 T+00:03:24 - T+00:07:10 - T+00:08:28 - T+00:09:00 T+00:27:10 - T+00:34:58 -

SpaceX live feed at 00:31 John Federspiel cleared the NRO security check Green TEA-TEB ignition - Full Thrust check Liftoff at 11:59 - First stage flight telemetry in m/s MaxQ at 13:07 MECO 14:18 - Stage separation 14:21 First stage back flip maneuver using RCS thrusters  SES-1 at 14:28 - Velocity 1 627 m/s - Altitude 78,6 km Boost back burn at 14:34 by 3 Merlin 1D+ 46 seconds Fairing separation at 15:22 - Audio only 3 second delay on downlink compared to ground link Entry burn 19:09 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 25 seconds Velocity 1 386 - 761 m/s - Altitude 68,3 - 39,4 km Landing burn 20:27 by 1 Merlin 1D+ for 32 seconds Velocity 325 - 0 m/s - Altitude 5,0 - 0 km Guess SECO at ??:?? - Burn Time 390 seconds? Guess SES-2 - SECO-2 might have given an inclination change boost from 50 degree to ?? degree at ??:?? Guess SpaceX doesn’t show deployment at ??:?? SpaceX rap up from 21:24 - Guesswork applied

CRS-10	Echostar 23	SES-10	NROL-76	Inmarsat-5 F4
CRS-11	BulgariaSat-1	Iridium-2 Next	Intelsat 35E	CRS-12

Are we cleared for this launch?

This is a NRO Launch (NROL)  i.e. a satellite operated by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. Those missions are generally classified, so that their exact purposes and orbital elements are not published. However, amateur astronomers have managed to observe most of the satellites, and leaked information has led to the identification of many of the payloads.

SpaceX is contracted to launch NROL-76 for the NRO on May 1, 11:15 UTC about 7:15 pm EDT in a Low Earth Orbit from Kennedy Space Center LC39-A. The Falcon 9 will send NROL-76 on a 402 km by 391 km with a 50o inclination. There is no detail about the weight of NROL-76, but since it didn’t get higher, it must be heavy, and since the Booster B1032-1 landed on LZ-1 to launch another day, it can’t be that much heavier than most other LEO satellites or a fully loaded Dragon bound for the International Space Station.

By National Reconnaissance Office - https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/29/falcon-9-rocket-rolled-to-launch-pad-with-classified-payload/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88708195

The Payload

NROL-76 was launched into orbit by a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket with a Block 4 second stage capable of lifting a 6-7 ton Dragon capsule into Low Earth Orbit. With the return to the launch site of the first stage it reduces the payload NROL-76 mass, but the full use of the Block 4 second stage propellant increases its overall payload mass.

The Low Earth Orbit of 398 x 409 km with a 50o inclination is not your average sign of a regular reconnaissance mission against Russia, it's more likely against the Middle East or China, but that is guesswork. A heavy satellite indicates heavy optics on a regular photo reconnaissance mission. Or a lot of receivers listening to handphone radio traffic.

Since only one heavy satellite was launched, the observers believe it’s an experimental test vehicle for proving or testing future technologies in spy satellites. There is talk about orbit changes of NROL-76 after the initial launch, among other closing in on CRS-11 and the ISS, so a fully laden satellite with regards to propellant could have done practice runs on ISS before approaching a Russian or Chinese satellite in order to spy on it.

There is more information about USA-276 if you read this SatTrakCam blog post.

Author William Graham link link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list