SpaceX Falcon 9 launches classified USSF-627 mission for US Space Force

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:36 p.m. EST on Wednesday (November 11), carrying the classified USSF-627 mission for the United States Space Force into orbit. It was SpaceX's second classified Space Force launch in six days.

Booster's seventh flight ends with droneship landing

The Falcon 9 Block 5 launched from Space Launch Complex 4E at 04:36 UTC on Thursday, November 12. The first-stage booster, designated B1103, completed its seventh flight and landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean about eight and a half minutes after liftoff.

Payload undisclosed; Starshield suspected

Neither the US Space Force nor SpaceX disclosed what USSF-627 carried. Some experts have speculated the mission lofted a batch of SpaceX's Starshield satellites for the Space Force's space-based sensing and targeting portfolio, but that has not been officially confirmed. SpaceX ended its launch webcast shortly after the booster returned.

120th Falcon 9 launch of 2026

According to Space.com, USSF-627 was the 120th Falcon 9 launch of 2026 and the rocket's 15th national-security flight of the year. Vandenberg hosted a similar classified liftoff less than a week earlier, when a Falcon 9 sent the USSF-432 mission skyward on November 6. The launch had originally been scheduled for Monday, November 9, before slipping to Wednesday night. (Sources: Space.com, Launch Library 2)