SpaceX Launches NROL-172 Starshield Mission from Vandenberg — B1103 2nd Flight, 57th Orbital Mission of 2026, 610th Booster Recovery

On May 11, 2026, SpaceX launched NROL-172 — the 13th batch of Starshield reconnaissance satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office — from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 3:28 p.m. PT (22:28 UTC). The mission flew aboard Falcon 9 booster B1103 on its second flight; B1103's first mission was Starlink 17-35 on April 6, 2026. The booster targeted drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' (OCISLY) for recovery in the Pacific Ocean — SpaceX's 610th cumulative Falcon booster recovery in company history. NROL-172 is part of the proliferated Starshield low-Earth orbit ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) constellation developed by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the NRO — the government's next-generation space-based reconnaissance architecture designed to supplement and eventually replace legacy geosynchronous spy satellites with a more resilient, distributed LEO network. As SpaceX's 57th orbital mission of 2026, NROL-172 marks the last confirmed orbital flight before the company's potential historic dual-launch day on May 12: Starship IFT-12 from Starbase OLP-2 at 5:30 p.m. CDT and CRS-34 Cargo Dragon from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 7:16 p.m. EDT — which, if both proceed, would be the first time any company has conducted an orbital resupply mission and a next-generation test vehicle launch on the same calendar day. Live webcast was available at spacex.com/launches/nrol172.