A categorized satellite tv for pc for the U.S. Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace launched into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket on Saturday. The NROL-91 spy satellite tv for pc lifted off at 3:25 p.m. from Vandenberg Area Drive Base in California's Santa Barbara County.
It was the final launch of a Delta 4 from the West Coast. Extra launches are deliberate from Florida earlier than the Deltas are changed by ULA's next-generation Vulcan Centaur rockets.
"The Delta IV Heavy has confirmed to be an integral a part of the NRO's historical past, serving to us construct the structure for the world's greatest space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," stated NRO Director Dr. Chris Scolese in a assertion.
The Delta IV Heavy configuration first launched in December 2004. This was the 387th flight of a Delta rocket since 1960 and the ninety fifth and closing launch from Vandenberg.
The Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace is the federal government company in control of growing, constructing, launching and sustaining U.S. spy satellites that present intelligence information to policymakers, the intelligence group and Protection Division.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets have additionally boosted categorized Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace payloads into orbit. In April, based mostly on the launch time and quite a lot of different components, unbiased area analysts speculated a Falcon 9 possible carried two Naval Ocean Surveillance System, or NOSS, satellites into orbit that work in pairs to electronically monitor and find ships at sea.
