The NROL-105 mission lifted off from California on Friday (Jan. 16) at 11:39 p.m. ET. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. SpaceX launched its first national security mission of the year on Friday night (Jan. 16), sending a batch of spy satellites aloft from California. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base Friday at 11:39 p.m. EST (8:39 p.m. local California time; 0439GMT on Jan. 17), kicking off a mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) called NROL-105. NROL-105 was the 12th launch devoted to building out the NRO's "proliferated architecture," a new reconnaissance constellation that prioritizes flexibility, speed of deployment, cost efficiency and resilience. "Having hundreds of small satellites on orbit is invaluable to the NRO's mission," NRO Director Chris Scolese said in the NROL-105 press kit, which you can find here. "They will provide greater revisit rates, increased coverage, more timely delivery of information — and ultimately help us deliver more of what our customers need even faster," he added. The proliferated architecture satellites are built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. All of them have reached orbit aboard Falcon 9 rockets launching from Vandenberg. The first such mission, NROL-146, lifted off in May 2024. The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth safely on Friday, touching down at Vandenberg about 7.5 minutes after liftoff. It was the second launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! We don't know how many satellites went up on NROL-105, or where and when they're scheduled to be deployed; the mission description does not reveal this information. And we didn't get it during the webcast; SpaceX ended its livestream shortly after booster landing, likely at the NRO's request. NROL-105 was SpaceX's seventh mission of 2026. Four of those launches have been devoted to building out the company's huge Starlink broadband megaconstellation. Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:50 p.m. ET on Jan. 16 with news of launch and booster landing. Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.