SpaceX wins $130M Air Force contract to launch spy satellite

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will soon use the most powerful commercial rocket available to launch an Air Force spy satellite.

The service awarded SpaceX a $130 million contract “to deliver the Air Force Space Command-52 satellite to its intended orbit” using the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, according to a notice posted to the Defense Department’s website.

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The satellite is on track to launch in 2020 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with SpaceX providing “launch vehicle production and mission, as well as integration, launch operations and spaceflight worthiness activities.”

The contract, part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, marks the first major deal for the private space company to launch a larger spy satellite. SpaceX in March won a $290 million contract to help launch other satellites as part of the program.

SpaceX’s beat out its biggest rival, United Launch Alliance (ULA), for the contract to launch the AFSC-52 satellite. The Lockheed Martin and Boeing joint venture previously had a monopoly on the Air Force program meant to launch sensitive payloads into space. 

The Falcon Heavy successfully launched earlier this year from Kennedy Space Center, with double the power of the world’s next most powerful rocket, ULA’s Delta IV Heavy.

Musk said at the time that the Falcon Heavy operates at one-third the cost of the Delta IV Heavy.