Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Watch live: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches secretive military mini-shuttle from Kennedy Space Center

Watch live coverage as SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a secretive U.S. military mini-shuttle called the X-37B Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is scheduled fo...

🚀 LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches X-37B Spaceplane

This mission will launch the US Space Force X-37B spaceplane into a low-earth orbit, where it will aim to accomplish a wide range of test and experimentation objectives. These will include demonstrati...

USSF-36 Mission

Livestream on X

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

OTV-8 (X-37B) (USSF-36)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA Probability: 90%
B1092 - Landing Zone 2

Eighth flight of the X-37B program. The X-37B is a dynamic and responsive spacecraft responsible for conducting a range of tests and experiments that expedite the development of critical next-generation technologies and operational concepts for reusable space capabilities. The OTV-8 mission in Low Earth Orbit includes operational demonstrations and experiments of next-generation technologies, including laser communications and the highest performing strategic grade quantum inertial sensor ever tested in space. Mission partners include the Air Force Research Lab and the Defense Innovation Unit, respectively.

Telemetry

Launch trajectory and telemetry simulations provided by Flight Club - a rocket launch simulator and orbital trajectory visualiser for all things space!

Updates

hitura-nobad • Aug. 22, 2025, 2:35 p.m.

Launch successfull.


Cosmic_Penguin • Aug. 22, 2025, 7:39 a.m.

Spacecraft separation.


hitura-nobad • Aug. 22, 2025, 3:50 a.m.

Liftoff!


Cosmic_Penguin • Aug. 22, 2025, 3:19 a.m.

Updated launch weather, 90% GO.


Cosmic_Penguin • Aug. 20, 2025, 4:56 p.m.

Updated launch weather, 65% GO at start of window (80% GO at end).


Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: 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.

See Details
Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549.0 T
  • Thrust
    7607.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1092

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: February 27, 2025
Last Flight: February 24, 2026
Flights: 10
Landings Attempted: 10
Landings Successful: 10
Previous B1092 Flights

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 first stage B1092 has landed back at the launch site at Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) after its 6th flight.

Result: Successful Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 2.

X-37B 1


Active Cargo Unmanned Payload Capacity: 227 kg
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: 1

First X-37B. First flight on April 22, 2010.

X-37B Details

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 714 Failures: 15 Pending: 129

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI
NASA

Strap In! NASA Aeroshell Material Takes Extended Space Trip

Components of a NASA technology that could one day help crew and cargo enter harsh planetary environments, like that of Mars, are taking an extended trip to space courtesy of the United States Space Force. On Aug. 21, several pieces of web…

Arstechnica

Rocket Report: Pivotal Starship test on tap, Firefly wants to be big in Japan

Starship returns to the launch pad for the first time in three months.

SpacePolicyOnline.com

X-37B Lifts Off on Eighth Mission

The U.S. Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle lifted off from Kennedy Space Center just before midnight on its eighth flight, OTV-8. Looking like a small space shuttle, the spaceplane […]

Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launches Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane to demo laser communications, quantum navigation

The uncrewed spacecraft will operate in low Earth orbit for an unspecified amount of time. This is the eighth launch of an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle since its first flight in 2010.

NASASpaceflight

X-37B set to launch on USSF-36 mission aboard Falcon 9

The U.S. Department of Defense’s reusable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is about to make… The post X-37B set to launch on USSF-36 mission aboard Falcon 9 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A


Long March 2D
Success
12 hours, 13 minutes ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Electron
Success
19 hours, 41 minutes ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 days, 6 hours ago
Glonass-K1 No. 20 (?)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Satellite serial number and Cosmos designation not confirmed. Glonass-K are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite n…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 20 hours ago
SpaceTY-51 & 52
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation radar satellites built by the Chinese satellite manufacturer SpaceTY.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 21 hours ago
USSF-259
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 22 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 25
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
3 days, 9 hours ago
Progress MS-35 (96P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Gravity-1
Success
4 days, 1 hour ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
4 days, 16 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Vega-C
Success
4 days, 21 hours ago
Sentinel-3C & FLEX
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and lan…