SpaceX has successfully launched a classified Air Force drone from the NASA Space Kennedy Center as the ferocious Hurricane Irma caused severe weather.
The company used the Falcon 9 rocket to launch the Air Force space plane around 10 a.m. E.T. on Thursday, despite warnings that the weather was only 50% favorable.
Irma was thought to be around 900 miles southeast of the center at the time of lift-off.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/qmIjpZyhsP
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 7, 2017
It is the fifth time that the Air Force has launched the 11,000-pound autonomous rocket, but the first time that they have used SpaceX, according to Bloomberg. The Falcon 9 rocket won military accreditation back in May 2015, ending the monopoly of a joint venture by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
Falcon 9 first stage has landed at Landing Zone 1. pic.twitter.com/TBDKNm6hbe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 7, 2017
The Air Force has been secretive about these unmanned autonomous missions for years, Bloomberg added. The most recent X-37B mission spent more than 700 days circling the Earth and ended in May. They are only launched every few years.
