From the California coast, a second Falcon 9 rocket climbed skyward within a single week, carrying a classified payload for the U.S. Space Force into the quiet dark above Vandenberg. The rapid cadence of these missions — two in seven days — speaks to something larger than any single launch: a military space enterprise in acceleration, reshaping how nations project power and protect infrastructure beyond the atmosphere. SpaceX, once a commercial upstart, has become the indispensable engine of American military space ambition, its reusable rockets compressing what once took months into a matter