SDA Launches First Operational Satellites To LEO

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Sept. 10, 2025 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carrying the Space Development Agency's first Tranche 1 satellites. Credit: SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Sept. 10 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carrying the Space Development Agency's first Tranche 1 satellites.

Credit: SpaceX
VANDENBERG SFB, California–A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) inaugural batch of tactical data communications satellites Sept. 10, in the first of an expected 10 missions to carry the full Tranche 1 segment of a new proliferated constellation to low Earth orbit (LEO)...
Vivienne Machi

Vivienne Machi is the military space editor for Aviation Week based in Los Angeles.

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