On Saturday, September 2, SpaceX launched a new set of advanced military satellites for the US Space Force into orbit after a two-day delay while breaking its own speed record.

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying 13 spacecraft from the Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) took to the foggy morning sky over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:26 PM ET (14:26 GMT; 07:26) Saturday. took off. CST sometimes). ), returning to Vandenberg to perform the first boost stage landing. It was the launch vehicle’s 13th flight.

SpaceX avionics reliability engineer Zachary Luppen said during a live commentary: “This launch marks SpaceX’s 61st launch in 2023, breaking last year’s annual record with four months to go.”

Luppen said SpaceX initially attempted to launch the Tranche 0 mission on August 31, but was delayed due to an unexpected response from one of the nine engines on Falcon 9’s first stage. He added that the second attempt on September 1 was also canceled about 12 minutes before takeoff due to a problem with a valve in the ground equipment.

SpaceX wrote that Saturday’s launch is SpaceX’s second launch to support the Extended Warrior Space Architecture (PWSA), “a new layered network of low-Earth orbiting satellites and support elements that will provide global military communications and missile warning, indication and tracking capabilities.” . task description.

PWSA’s first mission took place in early April, when Falcon 9 took off 10 satellites from Vandenberg. According to SpaceNews, these first two missions are devoted to the creation of “Tranche 0,” a demonstration group of 28 satellites. Most are for communication purposes but some are designed to detect missiles.

Air and Space Forces magazine wrote in late March: “According to the plan, the Space Force will have hundreds of small satellites, and new ones will be launched every few years to improve stability and capabilities in orbit.”

If all goes as planned, Falcon 9’s first stage will land in Vandenberg approximately 7.5 minutes after launch today. According to Luppen, this was the 13th launch and landing of this particular launch vehicle and the 222nd overall launch of SpaceX’s orbital-class rocket. He also added that this is the company’s 260th launch.

It is unclear when the satellites will be deployed; SpaceX has not released any information regarding this milestone. This is not surprising; Details are often lacking in national security missions. At the Space Agency’s request, SpaceX did not show any live video of Falcon 9’s upper stages during Saturday’s launch and stopped the webcast shortly after the launch vehicle’s first stage had landed.