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America's biggest rocket launches top-secret spy satellite
Pat Corkery / ULA
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday, carrying the NROL-65 spy satellite into space.
The United States' largest rocket launched a spy satellite on a hush-hush mission Wednesday.
An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off the pad at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 2:03 p.m. ET (11:03 p.m. PT) Wednesday, carrying a classified payload into a polar orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
"Today's launch is dedicated to the men and women who serve for our nation's freedom," a commentator said a few minutes into the liftoff. [See more photos of the spy satellite launch]
It's unclear what intelligence the spacecraft, which is known as NROL-65, will collect as it zips around our planet. Because of the clandestine nature of the mission, it entered a planned media blackout about seven minutes after liftoff.
'Truly honored'
"We are truly honored to deliver this critical asset to orbit," said Jim Sponnick, United Launch Alliance vice president for the Atlas and Delta programs. "The ULA Delta 4 Heavy is currently the world's largest rocket, providing the nation with reliable, proven heavy-lift capability for our countrys national security payloads from both the east and west coasts."
The Delta 4 Heavy, built by ULA and first flown in 2004, is the biggest and most powerful American rocket in operation today. The 235-foot-tall (72-meter) launcher generates about 2 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, according to ULA officials.
America's biggest rocket launches top-secret spy satellite* - NBC News.com
NROL-65 spy satellite launched
By: Brad Lendon CNN
(CNN) -- A massive rocket carrying a new U.S. spy satellite lifted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base Wednesday.
Details about the satellite, designated NROL-65, are classified. But the three-booster Delta-IV rocket used to send it aloft Wednesday is the heaviest in the U.S. inventory, capable of putting a 25-ton payload into low Earth orbit.
It's one of two launches the top-secret National Reconnaissance Office has on the books for late 2013, NRO Director Betty Sapp told a congressional committee in April.
The payload in Wednesday's launch is thought to be "a $1-billion high-powered spy satellite capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the make and model of an automobile hundreds of miles below," the Los Angeles Times reported.
The 232-foot-tall booster was developed by the U.S. Air Force and the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
NROL-65 is the second launch from Vandenberg of the Delta IV Heavy. The first was in January 2011.
Read more: NROL-65 spy satellite launch live video stream: Delta IV Heavy rocket will launch it into space
Pat Corkery / ULA
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday, carrying the NROL-65 spy satellite into space.
The United States' largest rocket launched a spy satellite on a hush-hush mission Wednesday.
An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off the pad at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 2:03 p.m. ET (11:03 p.m. PT) Wednesday, carrying a classified payload into a polar orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
"Today's launch is dedicated to the men and women who serve for our nation's freedom," a commentator said a few minutes into the liftoff. [See more photos of the spy satellite launch]
It's unclear what intelligence the spacecraft, which is known as NROL-65, will collect as it zips around our planet. Because of the clandestine nature of the mission, it entered a planned media blackout about seven minutes after liftoff.
'Truly honored'
"We are truly honored to deliver this critical asset to orbit," said Jim Sponnick, United Launch Alliance vice president for the Atlas and Delta programs. "The ULA Delta 4 Heavy is currently the world's largest rocket, providing the nation with reliable, proven heavy-lift capability for our countrys national security payloads from both the east and west coasts."
The Delta 4 Heavy, built by ULA and first flown in 2004, is the biggest and most powerful American rocket in operation today. The 235-foot-tall (72-meter) launcher generates about 2 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, according to ULA officials.
America's biggest rocket launches top-secret spy satellite* - NBC News.com
NROL-65 spy satellite launched
By: Brad Lendon CNN
(CNN) -- A massive rocket carrying a new U.S. spy satellite lifted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base Wednesday.
Details about the satellite, designated NROL-65, are classified. But the three-booster Delta-IV rocket used to send it aloft Wednesday is the heaviest in the U.S. inventory, capable of putting a 25-ton payload into low Earth orbit.
It's one of two launches the top-secret National Reconnaissance Office has on the books for late 2013, NRO Director Betty Sapp told a congressional committee in April.
The payload in Wednesday's launch is thought to be "a $1-billion high-powered spy satellite capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the make and model of an automobile hundreds of miles below," the Los Angeles Times reported.
The 232-foot-tall booster was developed by the U.S. Air Force and the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
NROL-65 is the second launch from Vandenberg of the Delta IV Heavy. The first was in January 2011.
Read more: NROL-65 spy satellite launch live video stream: Delta IV Heavy rocket will launch it into space
What the f*ck they are sending into space??
