SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 11:50 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, sending the U.S. Space Force’s uncrewed X-37B spaceplane into low-Earth orbit for its eighth mission. The launch, designated USSF-36 or OTV-8, marked the third time the reusable vehicle has flown on a SpaceX booster. About eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage—flying for the sixth time—executed a return-to-launch-site landing at Landing Zone 2 in Cape Canaveral, underscoring SpaceX’s push to reuse hardware in national-security flights. The company ended its public webcast shortly after touchdown at the request of mission managers, and the Space Force confirmed spacecraft separation later in the night. The 8.8-metre-long Boeing-built spaceplane is carrying a suite of largely classified experiments. Publicly disclosed objectives include testing high-bandwidth laser communications links with proliferated low-orbit satellites and operating what the military calls its highest-performing quantum inertial sensor to date—technology aimed at navigation in GPS-denied environments. Mission duration and orbital parameters remain undisclosed; prior X-37B flights have ranged from 224 to 909 days. The launch came days after SpaceX’s 100th Falcon 9 flight of 2025, which delivered another batch of Starlink satellites and highlighted a cadence now averaging one Falcon 9 every 2.3 days. The company is also preparing for the tenth test flight of its Starship system, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 24, as it pursues parallel commercial, military and development programmes.