Three rockets blasted off on secret missions for the US military, US space agency , Nasa .

The Terrier-Orion rockets were successfully launched within a 20-second period, beginning at 4.09 a.m. EST (0909 GMT) from Nasa’ s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Xinhua.

The US Department of Defense has requested that Nasa not provide real-time launch updates, it said .

“The launch will not be shown live on the Internet nor will launch status updates be provided on social media once the countdown begins,” according to a Nasa media advisory early this week. “The Nasa Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for viewing the launch.”

Terrier-orion is a two stage spin stabilised rocket system with a weight of about 2,900 pounds (1,315 kg), according to Nasa. It can lift a 200-pound (91 kg) payload to an height of 200 km and an 800-pound (363 kg) payload 80 km up .