Where have we seen this before... From Jonathan McDowell: No orbit details given. No reentry date given, but for a secret payload it might not be. Implication is Space-Track thinks it completed at least one orbitAsked to comment, Hawthorne-based SpaceX issued a statement Monday afternoon: “We do not comment on missions of this nature; but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally.”
“When it was first launched from the space shuttle Atlantis on March 1, 1990, it was believed to be the first advanced KH-11 spacecraft,” he says, referring to the top-of-the-line American spy satellite. “Within weeks, both U.S. and Soviet space sources reported it had malfunctioned and would make a ‘fiery re-entry in the next 30 days.’ Both assessments were wrong.”
Space-Track has cataloged the Zuma payload as USA 280, international designation 2018-001A. Catalog number 43098.