Tag: National Reconnaissance Office
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Photos: Delta 4 rocket revealed
The 32-story-tall mobile service tower is retracted from the Delta 4 rocket at Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 6 pad for the NROL-45 flight that will place a surveillance satellite into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance See earlier Delta 373 coverage. Our Delta archive.
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National Reconnaissance Office to begin year’s manifest with Delta 4
File of Delta 4 Medium+ (5,2) on the pad at Vandenberg. Credit: Justin Ray/Spaceflight Now. See more images like this. Beginning the National Reconnaissance Office’s campaign of four launches in 2016 using boosters big and small to deploy a varied collection of new intelligence satellites, a Delta 4 rocket stands ready for liftoff before sun-up…
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Photos: NROL-45 payload fitted atop Delta 4 for launch
This collection of photographs shows the National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-45 payload, already encapsulated in the Delta 4 nose cone, being moved from the payload processing facility at Space Launch Complex 6 and lifted atop the United Launch Alliance rocket for flight on Wednesday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Photos by United Launch…
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‘Slick 6:’ 30 years after the hopes of a West Coast space shuttle
The shuttle Enterprise sits atop SLC-6 for “fit checks” in 1985. Credit: Air Force It was 1986 and the U.S. Air Force was on the cusp of something unprecedented in human spaceflight — launching a space shuttle crew from California and paving the way for people to fly true polar missions. Space Launch Complex 6,…
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Photos: Gantry retracted from Atlas 5 rocket
The 8-million-pound mobile service tower is retracted from around the Atlas 5 rocket, revealing the 19-story-tall vehicle for liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on NROL-55. Photos: United Launch Alliance Rollback of NROL-55 Vandenberg AFB Rollback of NROL-55 Vandenberg AFB Rollback of NROL-55 Vandenberg AFB Rollback of NROL-55 Vandenberg AFB Rollback of NROL-55 Vandenberg…
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Video: Liftoff of Atlas 5 on NROL-55
A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the classified NROL-55 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. See earlier NROL-55 coverage. Our Atlas archive.
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Second Atlas 5 rocket launched in span of six days
CAPE CANAVERAL — Churning out the launches at a rapid pace, the Atlas 5 program sent another rocket soaring like clockwork today for deployment of a national security satellite duo from California. Blasting off precisely on-time at 5:49:30 a.m. local (8:49:30 a.m. EDT; 1249:30 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, it was the seventh Atlas…
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Photos: California’s predawn liftoff of Atlas 5 rocket
Making its second launch in just six days, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight blasted off Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News See earlier NROL-55 coverage. Our Atlas archive.
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Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast
A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight carrying the NROL-55 cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance See earlier NROL-55 coverage. Our Atlas archive.
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Intel-gathering spacecraft launch on Atlas 5 scheduled for Thursday
Mission poster. Credit: ULA CAPE CANAVERAL — Poised for its one and only satellite launch of the year, the National Reconnaissance Office will conduct a hush-hush flight Thursday, Oct. 8 using a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from California. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base is targeted for 5:49…