Secret Zuma spacecraft may have sunk after launch

The secret Zuma spacecraft, which was successfully launched on Sunday by a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, may have sunk. It is speculated, among other things, that the payload never reached low Earth orbit.

Both Ars Technica and The Wall Street Journal report citing sources that the spacecraft has fallen back to Earth. That may have been caused by the failure of the Falcon 9’s top, second rocket stage decoupling. Bloomberg is not reporting any issues with the decoupling mechanism; there would have been a failed second rocket stage.

SpaceX has not yet indicated that the mission is a success. The company said the Falcon 9 performed “nominal”, but the company declined to comment further. The first rocket stage made a successful landing on Earth after launch.

Little is known about the Zuma spacecraft, except that aerospace company and aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman developed it for the US government. The company declined to comment. Zuma was en route to low Earth orbit and the spacecraft is believed to have been launched as part of US national security.