WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched a batch of small spy satellites Sept. 22 for the National Reconnaissance Office, pushing the U.S. government’s fleet of operational spacecraft past 200 in orbit.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1:38 p.m. Eastern, carrying the NROL-48 mission into low Earth orbit. The flight marked the eleventh launch in the NRO’s growing “ proliferated architecture ” and the fifth such deployment of 2025.

The NRO, which develops and operates the nation’s spy satellites, began deploying the network more than two years ago. The constellation is designed to deliver intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and secure data relay using a distributed web of small satellites.

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