Cape Canaveral, FL — SpaceX GPS-III 09 'Ellison Onizuka'

A Falcon 9 launched GPS-III Space Vehicle 09 for the US Space Force from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 11:53 PM EST on January 27. The satellite, named "Ellison Onizuka" after the Challenger astronaut who died on this date in 1986, was originally assigned to a ULA Vulcan rocket but was swapped to Falcon 9 in a schedule trade between the launch providers. GPS III satellites deliver three times better accuracy and eight times improved anti-jamming over earlier GPS spacecraft. Booster B1096, on its fifth flight, landed on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic, producing a sonic boom detected in web traffic spikes from central Florida.