Early Thursday morning, ULA launched its first mission of the year, which also happened to be the company’s largest offering, the Delta IV Heavy. The launch was a bittersweet moment, as this now means only one more of this original “big orange rocket” is left to fly.
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Rocket Lab, the leader of the SmallSat launch market, has completed its “Back to Back” launch campaign for the National Reconnaissance Office. This marks a major cadence milestone for the company working to become the SpaceX of SmallSat launches.
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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on April 17, 2022, at 9:13 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.
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SpaceX was suppose to launch the newest satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office Laboratory named NROL-108. This will launch on booster B1059 which first launched back in December 2019 on the CRS-19 mission.
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After sitting on the pad for over a year and undergoing multiple launch attempts since late August, ULA’s Delta IV Heavy lifted off on Thursday carrying a classified payload known only as NROL-44.
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Update: December 10, 2020: Livestream for tonight’s launch is now available. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:09 p.m. EST.
United Launch Alliance has released a new target date for the NROL-44 mission using its massive Delta IV Heavy rocket. The classified mission for the U.S. National Reconnoissance Office Laboratory was originally set for August 26, but multiple failures to launch for various reasons took the launch off the calendar.
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