After the Boeing-led Future Imagery Architecture program failed in 2005, NRO ordered two more KH-11s, including USA-224. Critics worried that each of these "exquisite-class" satellites would cost more than the latest , which had a projected procurement cost of as of May 2005. USA-224 – the first of these two – was completed by Lockheed under the initial budget estimate, and two years ahead of schedule. USA-224 was launched atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 6 in California. The launch was conducted by United Launch Alliance, and was the first flight of a Delta IV Heavy from Vandenberg. Liftoff occurred on 20 January 2011 at 21:10:30 UTC. Upon reaching orbit, the satellite received the International Designator 2011-002A. The satellite began operating 33 days after its predecessor, USA-161, stopped doing its primary mission. This coverage gap was much smaller than originally feared, thanks to USA-224's earlier-than-planned launch and operational changes to extend the lifetime of USA-161. As the fifteenth KH-11 satellite to be launched, USA-224 is a member of one of the later block configurations occasionally identified as being a separate system. Details of its mission and orbit are classified, but amateur observers have tracked it in low Earth orbit. Shortly after launch it was in an orbit with a perigee of, an apogee of and 97.9 degrees of inclination, typical for an operational KH-11 satellite. By April it was at 97.93 degrees.
Imaging of Nahid-1/Safir launch preparation accident
On 30 August 2019, President Donald Trumptweeted a classified picture from an intelligence briefing showing the aftermath of an accident that apparently occurred during launch preparations of a Safir rocket at the Imam Khomeini Spaceporta day earlier. According to analysts, the photo is likely to have been taken by USA-224. The opinion is based on a close agreement between the estimated time when the photo was taken, and the location of the satellite at that same time, as estimated with tracking data maintained by the amateur satellite watching community. The photograph stands out for its high-resolution, sharpness and lack of atmospheric distortion. Before this tweet, the only KH-11 imagery available was leaked in 1984, and the only declassified imagery available in public domain was released in 2011 taken by KH-9.
