SpaceX Lands Booster at Sea After Classified US Space Force Launch

California, United States – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the night of Wednesday, November 11, carrying the classified USSF-627 mission for the US Space Force, and its first stage landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean minutes later.

The SpaceX broadcast shows the rocket rising from the launch pad into the dark sky, followed by views of the booster as it returns and touches down on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You. "Stage 1 landing confirmed," a SpaceX commentator says.

It was the booster's seventh flight, SpaceX said. The company did not show the second stage or the release of the payload, at the request of its customer.

Neither SpaceX nor the Space Force has said what the mission is carrying.