Announcement

Falcon Heavy launches NROL-97 and lands its side boosters in Florida

SpaceX said Falcon Heavy launched the NROL-97 mission from Kennedy Space Center at 11:54 p.m. ET on Oct. 1, with the mission page separately listing 03:53 GMT+0 on Oct. 2. SpaceX said both side boosters landed at Cape Canaveral, while prelaunch public listings described the center core as expended.

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2 Sources, 8d ago, first seen 8d ago

TLDR

SpaceX said Falcon Heavy launched the NROL-97 mission from Kennedy Space Center at 11:54 p.m. ET on Oct. 1, while its mission page separately lists 03:53 GMT+0 on Oct. 2. SpaceX said both side boosters landed at Cape Canaveral. Prelaunch public listings had described the center core as expended and showed the mission being marketed as a paid public viewing event at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

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Announcement

Falcon Heavy launches NROL-97 and lands its side boosters in Florida

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2 Sources, 8d ago, first seen 8d ago

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119.9K

2 Sources, first seen 8d ago

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SpaceX said Falcon Heavy launched the NROL-97 mission from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 11:54 p.m. ET. On that same mission page, SpaceX separately lists the launch time as October 2, 2026, at 03:53 GMT+0.

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SpaceX also said on its mission page that both side boosters landed at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after stage separation. The company said this was the second and fourth flight for the side boosters supporting the mission, and that those boosters had previously flown the GOES-U mission, Viasat-3 F3, and the Roman Space Telescope mission.

Prelaunch public listings for NROL-97 had also outlined the planned recovery profile. SpaceX’s broader launch schedule listed the mission from LC-39A with a “Landing Zone / Expended” profile, while a Space Launch Schedule listing described the center core as expended.

Why the date looked different depending on the page

The public pages used different clocks. SpaceX’s launch schedule listed NROL-97 on Oct. 2, 2026, while the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex event page listed it as NET Oct. 1, 2026, at 11:53 p.m. local time.

That same Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex page marketed NROL-97 as a paid public viewing event through its “Feel the Heat” package, which included bus transportation to the Apollo/Saturn V Center lawn, live commentary, and other launch-night extras.

After liftoff, SpaceX’s post-launch mission page provided the clearest timing in both formats: 11:54 p.m. ET on Oct. 1 and 03:53 GMT+0 on Oct. 2, along with SpaceX’s account of the two side-booster landings.

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Falcon Heavy launches NROL-97 and lands its side boosters in Florida

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Falcon Heavy launches NROL-97 and lands its side boosters in Florida

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Why the date looked different depending on the page

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Why the date looked different depending on the page

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