NROL- NROL-8787

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE
INNOVATING FASTER TO STAY ABOVE ALL THREATS

1 | NROL-87 LAUNCH PRESS KIT

NRO Launch-87 logo is of a 

wild mountain goat standing 

proud atop a mountain peak 

remaining watchfully alert. 

The NRO maintains constant 

vigilance from above in 

protecting our nation and its 

citizens. The snow-capped 

mountain in the background 

represents our nations’s 

unmatched preeminence 

in space.

To read more about the 

logo inspiration, visit our 

social media accounts on 

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and Twitter.

NRO Mission

The 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. 

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.

NROL-87

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) 

is proud to partner with SpaceX on our first 

National Security Space Launch aboard a 

Falcon 9 rocket. The NROL-87 mission will 

launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, 

California, and carry a national security 

payload designed, built, and operated by the 

agency. NROL-87 supports NRO’s national 

security mission to provide intelligence data 

to the United States’ senior policy makers, 

the Intelligence Community, and Department 

of Defense. 
2 | NROL-87 LAUNCH PRESS KIT

INNOVATING FASTER TO STAY ABOVE ALL THREATS

Rocket & Launch Facts

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 the ability for rapid reusability.

The Falcon 9 rocket has been launched 125 times with 85 landings 

and 67 reflown rockets (as of Dec. 2021)

Payload

Made of a carbon composite material, the fairing protects 

satellites on their way to orbit. The fairing is jettisoned 

approximately 3 minutes into flight, and SpaceX continues to 

recover fairings for reuse on future missions.

First Stage

Falcon 9’s first stage incorporates nine Merlin engines and 

aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen and rocketgrade kerosene (RP-1) propellant.

Falcon 9 generates more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust at 

sea level.

Interstage: The interstage is a composite structure that connects 

the first and second stages, and houses the pneumatic pushers 

that allow the first and second stage to separate during flight.

Grid fins: Falcon 9 is equipped with four hypersonic grid fins 

positioned at the base of the interstage. They orient the rocket 

during reentry by moving the center of pressure.

Second Stage

Powered by a single Merlin Vacuum Engine, the second stage 

delivers Falcon 9’s payload to the desired orbit. The engine ignites 

a few seconds after stage separation, and can be restarted several 

times to place multiple payloads into different orbits.

4 LANDING LEGS

9 MERLIN ENGINES

4 GRID FINS
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INNOVATING FASTER TO STAY ABOVE ALL THREATS

Courtesy SpaceX

Site Info

Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E)

SLC-4E was formerly called PALC2-4 and previously used 

by Atlas and Titan rockets between 1963 and 2005. It was 

built for use by Atlas-Agena rockets, but was later rebuilt to 

handle Titan rockets. The designation SLC-4E was applied 

at the time of the conversion to launch Titans. SLC-4E 

is leased as a launch site for the Falcon 9 rocket, which 

first flew from Vandenberg on Sept. 29, 2013 following a 

24-month refurbishment program, which had started in 

early 2011.

Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4)

SpaceX began a five-year lease of Launch Complex 4 

West in February 2015. The site is used as a landing pad 

to bring back Vertical Take Off Vertical Landing (VTVL) 

Return-To-Launch-Site (RTLS) first-stage boosters of the 

reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle. That pad was later 

named by SpaceX as Landing Zone 4, and first used 

operationally for a Falcon 9 booster landing in 2018.
INNOVATING FASTER TO STAY ABOVE ALL THREATS

4 | NROL-87 LAUNCH PRESS KIT

Recent Successes

The NRO is the best in the world at 

providing overhead intelligence, surveillance, 

and reconnaissance to more than a half 

million government users—including every 

member of the Intelligence Community, two 

dozen domestic agencies, our nation’s military, 

lawmakers, and decision makers.

In April 2021, the National Reconnaissance Office launched 

its NROL-82 mission aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 

IV Heavy from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in 

the first launch of 2021. A Northrop Grumman Minotaur I 

rocket launched NROL-111 as the second and final launch 

of the year. 

Visit NRO.gov/News-and-Media/Press-Releases/

to view the latest launchpress releases.

NROL-111 launches out of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, 

Virginia, June 15, 2021.
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INNOVATING FASTER TO STAY ABOVE ALL THREATS

Future Launches

• NRO has a busy launch year planned for 2022, with more than 

a half-dozen launches scheduled and nearly a dozen payloads 

planned for orbit. The year kicks off with NROL-87 in February 

out of Vandenberg Space Force Base. Millions of people depend 

on the vital intelligence NRO capabilities provide every day. 

Additional information on upcoming launches will be made 

available at NRO.gov/launch.

Courtesy SpaceX

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