
The NROL-167 mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., is a step toward what the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is calling "the U.S. government’s largest satellite constellation in history." "This mission is the fourth launch of the NRO’s proliferated architecture and signifies the NRO’s increased launch frequency and delivery on orbit for this program," the agency said of NROL-167. By the end of the year, the NRO plans to have put…