Tag: National Reconnaissance Office
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Upcoming Delta 4-Heavy launch back on track after payload-related delay
Delta 4-Heavy file photo. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Scriptunas Images CAPE CANAVERAL — A new launch date has been established — June 9 — for the Delta 4-Heavy rocket to carry a classified satellite into space for U.S. national security needs. Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance rocket will be possible during a five-hour…
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Delta 4-Heavy launch postponed by unspecified payload issue
NROL-37 mission poster. Credit: United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — Payload readiness has delayed next weekend’s planned Delta 4-Heavy rocket launch for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff had been targeted for the afternoon of June 4. A new launch date has not yet been established. The NRO is the secretive government agency responsible for…
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Photos and video: Payload mated to Delta 4-Heavy rocket for upcoming launch
CAPE CANAVERAL — Shielded from view within the protective rocket nose cone, a covert surveillance satellite has been mounted atop a Delta 4-Heavy rocket for launch June 4. The United Launch Alliance triple-barrel booster will heave the National Reconnaissance Office satellite into orbit for a classified mission. No details about the spacecraft, its purpose or…
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Delta 4-Heavy passes countdown rehearsal for upcoming NRO launch
CAPE CANAVERAL — Successfully put through its countdown paces in a critical pre-flight test Thursday, America’s largest rocket currently in service moved closer to a June launch for the U.S. intelligence community. Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy on the classified NROL-37 mission is targeted for June 4. Known as a Wet Dress…
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Delta 4-Heavy goes to launch pad for national security flight
File photos of Delta 4-Heavy rollout and erection. Photos by ULA CAPE CANAVERAL — Rolling toward a mid-May deployment of a clandestine spy satellite, United Launch Alliance’s triple-body Delta 4-Heavy rocket moved from its Cape Canaveral assembly building to pad 37B yesterday. The 170-foot-long rocket, riding horizontal aboard a 36-wheel, diesel-powered transporter, emerged from the…
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NASA moves forward with mission using spy satellite telescope
Artist’s concept of the WFIRST spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA has formally approved plans — a year ahead of schedule — for an infrared space telescope launching around 2024 to record unique wide-angle views of the cosmos, seeking answers to questions about mysterious dark energy and searching for habitable worlds around other stars, the space agency…
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Photos: More Delta 4 launch shots
The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket blasts into the predawn skies at Vandenberg Air Force Base with the NROL-45 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Photo Credit: Gene Blevins / LA Daily News See earlier Delta 373 coverage. Our Delta archive.
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Delta 4 goes against the grain to backwards orbit for spy bird
Soaring in fine fashion before daybreak, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket maneuvered a new spy satellite into a unique retrograde orbit this morning to join an expanding constellation of radar-imaging spacecraft. The 217-foot-tall orange and white vehicle used its hydrogen-fueled main engine and a pair of side-mounted solid rocket boosters to fire away…
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Video: Delta 4 launches before dawn from California
A replay of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket launching on the NROL-45 satellite-deployment mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. See earlier Delta 373 coverage. Our Delta archive.
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Photos: Delta 4 launches on secret NROL-45 mission
A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket flight to deploy the NROL-45 spy satellite payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance See earlier Delta 373 coverage. Our Delta archive.