Space launch firm SpaceX is preparing to boost a Northrop Grumman spacecraft, code named Zuma, into low earth orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But what the payload actually is, what it’s supposed to do and for how long, and what U.S. government agency or agencies are involved in the project all remain a mystery.
SpaceX originally scheduled the Zuma launch aboard one of its partially reusable Falcon 9 rockets for Nov. 15, 2017, but delayed the mission a day for unspecified reasons. According to its website, the California-headquartered firm says there are two additional back-up launch windows on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18, 2017.