NROL-101 Launch Press Kit
INNOVATIVE OVERHEAD INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

1 | NROL-101 LAUNCH PRESS KIT

NROL-101

The National Reconnaissance 

Office (NRO) is proud to partner 

with United Launch Alliance (ULA) 

on our 17th launch aboard an 

Atlas V launch vehicle. The NROL101 mission will launch from 

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 

(CCAFS), Florida, and carry a 

national security payload designed, 

built and operated by the agency. 

NROL-101 supports NRO’s 

overall national security mission 

to provide intelligence data 

to the United States’ senior 

policy makers, the Intelligence 

Community and Department of 

Defense. This is our 29th launch 

in partnership with ULA, alongside 

other mission partners at U.S. 

Space Force Space and Missile 

Systems Center and the 45th 

Space Wing. The NRO’s next 

planned launch from CCAFS will 

be NROL-108 on a Falcon 9 with 

SpaceX.

NRO Mission

The National Reconnaissance Office 

(NRO) is an Intelligence Community 

element and Department of Defense 

organization responsible for developing, 

acquiring, launching and operating 

America’s reconnaissance satellites, 

as well as operating associated data 

processing facilities in support of national 

security. Using NRO data, the National 

Security Agency, National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, and other NRO mission 

partners produce intelligence products 

for the President, Congress, national 

policymakers, warfighters, and civil users. 

The NRO uses a variety of satellites to 

meet these mission needs—from small 

sats to more traditional, larger satellites. 

This approach allows the NRO to pursue 

a hybrid overhead architecture designed 

to provide global coverage against a wide 

range of intelligence requirements, carry 

out research and development efforts, and 

assist emergency and disaster relief efforts 

in the U.S. and around the world.

The #NROL101 mission patch pays tribute to 

the Lord of the Rings stories, with a gold ring 

and Elvish script that translates to “Goodness 

Persists”.
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Rocket & 

Launch Facts

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V is a heavy-lift 

launch vehicle and is the latest evolution of 

this legendary family. Atlas V uses a standard 

common core booster, up to five solid rocket 

boosters (SRBs), a Centaur upper stage in a 

single- or dual-engine configuration, and one 

of several sizes of payload fairings. This launch 

vehicle, in an Atlas V 531 configuration, has a 

5-meter (18 ft.) diameter payload fairing, three 

solid rocket boosters, and stands at 63 meters 

(206 ft.) tall. At liftoff, the launch vehicle will 

weigh 1.08 million lbs and the thrust will be 

1.76 million lbs. The Atlas V 531 first launched 

on Aug. 14, 2010 and has launched three 

times to date.

GEM 63

NROL-101 will be the first ULA launch vehicle 

flying the new Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM) 

63 that burn solid propellant and augment 

the lifting capacity of rocket’s first stage. ULA 

will be transitioning from Aerojet Rocketdyne 

AJ60-A Solid Rocket Boosters to the Northrup 

Grumman GEMs throughout 2021. 

With more than a century of combined heritage, ULA has successfully delivered 140 missions to 

orbit that aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, unlock the mysteries of our solar system, 

provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, deliver cutting-edge commercial services and 

enable GPS navigation.

Main Engine

Delivering more than 860,000 pounds of thrust at 

liftoff and an impressive range of continuous throttling 

capability, the RD-180 main engine uses liquid oxygen/

liquid kerosene, a two-thrust-chamber, hydraulics for 

control valve actuation and thrust vector gimbaling, 

pneumatics for valve actuation and system 

purging, and a thrust frame to distribute loads.

Upper Stage

RL10 engines harness the power 

of high-energy liquid hydrogen. 

The RL10 boasts a precision 

control system and restart 

capability to accurately 

place payloads into orbit. 

The Atlas V Centaur upper 

stage is powered by 

the RL10C and can be 

configured with either 

one or two engines.

Solid Rocket 

Boosters

When missions demand 

additional thrust at liftoff, 

Atlas integrates up to five 

SRBs on the Atlas V 500 

series vehicles.

Graphic credit: ULA
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Site Info

Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC41)

NROL-101 will launch from Space Launch 

Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral 

Air Force Station, Florida. In addition to 

supporting Atlas V launches, SLC-41 will also 

be home to United Launch Alliance’s newest 

launch vehicle, the Vulcan Centaur. Previously, 

SLC-41 was used by the U.S. Air Force for 

Titan III and Titan IV launches. Titan was a 

family of expendable rockets used between 

1959 and 2005; Titan III and IV vehicles 

were used to lift U.S. military and intelligence 

payloads, as well as all of the Project Gemini 

crewed flights of the mid-1960s. After the 

last Titan launch, SLC-41 was renovated to 

support the Atlas V, with the first ever Atlas V 

launched from SLC-41 on August 21, 2002. 

Atlas V rockets are assembled vertically on a 

mobile launch platform (MLP) in the Vertical 

Integration Facility located to the south of 

the pad. The MLP is then transported to the 

launch pad on rails before launch.

Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Photo credit: ULA
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Recent 

Successes

The combination of commercial 

capabilities, technological 

advancements, and governmentdeveloped systems provides 

opportunities to expand 

the supplier base, improve 

performance, reduce cost, 

and enhance resiliency.

-Dr. Chris Scolese, Director, National 

Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

NROL-101 will be the NRO’s fourth launch 

of 2020 and will carry a national security 

payload designed, built and operated by the 

agency.

The NRO collaborated with NASA, Northrop 

Grumman, and Mid-Atlantic Regional 

Spaceport in July 2020 on our first 

dedicated launch out of NASA’s Wallops 

Flight Facility in Virginia. NROL-129 carried 

a classified payload designed, built and 

operated by the NRO, and it launched 

aboard a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 

IV rocket.

In June 2020, NRO collaborated with Rocket 

Lab to launch our second mission of 2020 

aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from 

the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The 

launch was procured under the NRO’s 

Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) 

contract, announced in April 2018. RASR 

enables NRO to explore new opportunities 

for launching small satellites through a 

streamlined, commercial approach. This 

approach allows the NRO to pursue the 

use of both large and small satellites for an 

integrated architecture designed to provide 

global coverage against a wide range of 

intelligence requirements. This launch was 

named “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Rocket 

Lab and carried three payloads designed, 

built and operated by NRO, as well as two 

additional CubeSats – one for NASA and 

the other from the University of New South 

Wales, Canberra Space.

In January 2020, NRO collaborated with 

Rocket Lab and the New Zealand Space 

Agency to launch NROL-151, our first 

dedicated mission from New Zealand. 

NROL-151 was the first launch under the 

NRO’s RASR contract.

NROL-129 launches out of NASA’s Wallops 

Flight Facility, Virginia, on July 15, 2020.

Visit https://www.nro.gov/News/PressReleases/ to view the latest launch 

press releases.
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Future 

Launches

• NRO’s next scheduled launch from Cape 

Canaveral Air Force Station is NROL-108, 

launching NET December 2020.

• The next launch from NASA Wallops is 

scheduled for 2nd Qtr CY2021

• The next launch from New Zealand is 

scheduled for 2nd Qtr CY2021 

• NROL-44, launching from Cape 

Canaveral Air Force Station, is currently 

indefinite on range.

• NROL-82, launching from Vandenberg 

Air Force Base, is currently indefinite on 

range.

Follow @NatReconOfc on Twitter 

and Instagram on launch day

NROL-44 is pictured on a Delta IV Heavy on Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape 

Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Photo credit: ULA