CLOSE SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was carrying the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-76 mission. USA TODAY 
 
 A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 7:15 a.m. ET Monday, May 1, 2017. The rocket is carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office mission. (Photo: Craig Bailey, Florida Today) 
 
 CAPE CANAVERAL — SpaceX sent a classified U.S. spy agency mission on its way to orbit Monday morning, then brought the rocket’s first stage home for a landing, possibly to fly again. 
 
 A 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 7:15 a.m. ET, thundering northeast over the Atlantic Ocean with a U.S. National Reconnaissance Office mission labeled NROL-76. 
 
 The flight appeared to be off to a good start, but SpaceX cut off its launch broadcast a few minutes into the flight to help preserve its secrecy, as is standard practice during NRO missions. 
 
 Related: Sensor issue forces scrub of SpaceX Falcon 9 NRO intelligence launch 
 
 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the mission launched successfully after nearly being scrubbed by strong high-altitude winds. 
 
 “Launch and landing of the NRO spy satellite was good,” he said about 20 minutes after liftoff. “Tough call, as high altitude wind shear was at 98.6% of the theoretical load limit.” 
 
 While coverage of the mission’s climb to space ended early, cameras showed spectacular footage of the 15-story Falcon booster flipping around and firing several engines to fly back to a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, several miles south of the launch site. 
 
 Dropping from more than 80 miles up, where camera views showed the blackness of space curvature of Earth, the stage deployed stabilizing fins and fired several engines again to slow its descent. 
 
 Falcon 9 first stage has landed at LZ-1 https://t.co/gtC39uBC7zpic.twitter.com/766RxdZ99X — SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 1, 2017 
 
 Four legs snapped out from the base of the rocket, which completed a final single-engine burn before a touchdown at “Landing Zone 1” announced with a flurry of sonic booms that rippled across the region. 
 
 SpaceX has now reached double-digits in rocket landings that started in late 2015, recovering the first stage of a Falcon for the 10th time — four on land and six on a barge at sea. 
 
 Related: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches, lands in historic first 
 
 In March, SpaceX successfully re-launched a used booster — or “flight proven,” in SpaceX terminology — for the first time for a commercial satellite mission. More reflights are possible this year, and SpaceX has leased a Port Canaveral facility to accommodate what Musk has said is a growing "forest of rocket boosters." 
 
 Musk believes reusable rockets are the key to drastically cutting launch costs, eventually making it possible to fulfill his vision of colonizing Mars. 
 
 Monday’s launch, after a sensor problem scrubbed a first try Sunday, was SpaceX’s first dedicated mission for the NRO, the intelligence agency responsible for satellites. 
 
 The NRO confirmed the mission was ordered as part of a satellite deal with Colorado-based Ball Aerospace, according to SpaceflightNow.com. 
 
 That information, combined with knowledge of the Falcon 9 rocket’s performance and trajectory, prompted amateur satellite observers experienced in tracking NRO missions to speculate that the mission might be an imaging satellite, bound for a low-Earth orbit inclined 50 to 60 degrees relative to the equator. 
 
 The mission patch, according to the National Reconnaissance Office, depicted Lewis and Clark peering through a spyglass and holding a musket, "heading into the great unknown to discover and explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory." 
 
 Stuck the landing! Great job team! pic.twitter.com/mS09TvJsv9 — 45th Space Wing (@45thSpaceWing) May 1, 2017 
 
 If the speculation is correct, the satellite could be a replacement or successor to one launched in 2006 that failed immediately after reaching orbit. 
 
 That mission became a controversial one when the government chose to shoot down the satellite with a Navy missile in 2008, saying it posed a risk of releasing a large amount of highly toxic fuel during an uncontrolled re-entry. 
 
 The launch was SpaceX’s fifth this year, continuing its rebound from a launch pad rocket explosion last summer that grounded the company for the last four months of 2016. 
 
 Another Falcon 9 is being prepared to launch a commercial satellite from Kennedy Space Center as soon as May 15. 
 
 Follow James Dean on Twitter: @flatoday_jdean 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2017/05/01/spacex-falcon-9-launch/308176001/ ||||| High-altitude winds nearly halted SpaceX’s first flight for a government agency Monday. 
 
 But CEO Elon Musk’s launch company went through with the Falcon 9 rocket launch at Launch Complex 39A, sending a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast. 
 
 “Launch and landing of the NRO spy satellite was good. Tough call, as high altitude wind shear was at 98.6% of the theoretical load limit,” Musk posted on Twitter just after liftoff. 
 
 Wind shear is the variation in wind speeds or direction at different altitudes. A large difference can harm rockets heading into space, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University meteorology professor Thomas Guinn said. 
 
 “If the wind shear were outside the range of pre-calculated, safe limits … the rocket wouldn’t be able to stay on trajectory,” he said. “Or worse, could potentially over stress the rocket, causing catastrophic failure.” 
 
 Just before the launch, Musk posted on Twitter, saying, “Winds aloft are unusually high (still within structural safety bounds). Worrying, but not a showstopper.” 
 
 About nine minutes after the rocket sent the satellite into space Monday, the first-stage booster made its acrobatic return to a soft landing at Launch Complex 39A on the coast. 
 
 It was the fourth time the company has recovered a rocket on land as it continues its effort to make reusable rockets routine. In late March, the company relaunched a rocket for the first time. 
 
 Musk has said that reusability is a key component of potentially sending a manned mission to Mars. On Monday, the Falcon 9 rocket took off at 7:15 a.m. — right on time — from the historic complex, which SpaceX leases from NASA. 
 
 The satellite launch had been scheduled for Sunday morning. 
 
 But a problem with one of the rocket’s hundreds of sensors resulted in a halt to the countdown about 52 seconds before scheduled launch time. 
 
 That meant a one-day delay. 
 
 “While this particular sensor did have a redundancy, readings were out of tolerance, so out of an abundance of caution, we opted to hold launch,” John Federspiel, a lead mechanical design engineer at SpaceX, said during a pre-launch broadcast Monday. 
 
 Monday’s launch represented the first time SpaceX has delivered a satellite into space for NRO. The company has been primarily focused on launching commercial satellites into space, along with cargo missions to the International Space Station. 
 
 The NRO launch had been highly anticipated because it marks the start of what some consider a new era of rocket launches, one characterized by competition between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance for government contracts. 
 
 For the last six years, at least, only United Launch Alliance has delivered government payloads into space. 
 
 Got a news tip? msantana@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5256; Twitter, @marcosantana 
 
 SpaceX launched the Department of Defense satellite NROL-76 on May 1, 2017 from Kennedy Space Center aboard its Falcon 9 rocket.
– SpaceX had a big morning: It successfully launched its first government satellite and got its rocket to return safely to Earth to boot. The company sent up the spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:15am from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, reports USA Today. Nine minutes later, the rocket returned to Cape Canaveral. Details of the spy satellite's mission are classified, reports Space.com, which adds that about the only thing known is that it will be in a low-Earth orbit. The Orlando Sentinel sees Monday's launch as a milestone because SpaceX has previously focused on cargo missions to the International Space Station or commercial telecom satellites. The launch of a government payload, then, marks the start of a new era of competition between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, which had cornered the market on government launches in recent years.