Delta 4 first launch a success
Posted: Wed, Nov 20, 2002, 7:28 PM ET (0028 GMT)
Boeing's Delta 4 launch vehicle successfully carried out its inaugural flight Wednesday evening, placing a European communications satellite into orbit. The Delta 4 Medium-Plus (4,2) lifted off from launch complex 37B at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 5:39 pm EST (2239 GMT), at the beginning of its 70-minute launch window. The booster's payload, the Eutelsat W5 communications satellite, separated from the booster nearly 38 minutes after launch, after the booster placed the spacecraft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The countdown to Wednesday's launch was not bedeviled by the technical glitches and weather problems that forced Boeing to scrub the launch; while upper-level winds were a concern earlier in the day, they subsided before launch. The Delta 4 is the vehicle developed by Boeing as part of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program; another EELV vehicle, the Atlas 5, was successfully launched three months ago by Lockheed Martin. The Eutelsat W5 spacecraft will be positioned at 70.5 degrees east longitude and provide Ku-band video and data services.
Boeing's Delta 4 launch vehicle successfully carried out its inaugural flight Wednesday evening, placing a European communications satellite into orbit. The Delta 4 Medium-Plus (4,2) lifted off from launch complex 37B at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 5:39 pm EST (2239 GMT), at the beginning of its 70-minute launch window. The booster's payload, the Eutelsat W5 communications satellite, separated from the booster nearly 38 minutes after launch, after the booster placed the spacecraft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The countdown to Wednesday's launch was not bedeviled by the technical glitches and weather problems that forced Boeing to scrub the launch; while upper-level winds were a concern earlier in the day, they subsided before launch. The Delta 4 is the vehicle developed by Boeing as part of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program; another EELV vehicle, the Atlas 5, was successfully launched three months ago by Lockheed Martin. The Eutelsat W5 spacecraft will be positioned at 70.5 degrees east longitude and provide Ku-band video and data services.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
NASA to launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in September
Posted: Sat, Apr 25 10:54 AM ET (1454 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Friday, May 1
FCC Adopts New Satellite Spectrum Sharing Rules
Broadband Breakfast — 6:04 am ET (1004 GMT) New FCC Rules Could Mean 'Sevenfold' Capacity Increase for Starlink
PC Magazine — 6:03 am ET (1003 GMT) Space Command moves into first Redstone building
Axios — 6:01 am ET (1001 GMT) Sierra Space Elects Retired Lieutenant General John E. Shaw to Board of Directors
PR Newswire — 6:01 am ET (1001 GMT) Spacecom Takes Operational Control of Facility in Alabama
US Dept. of Defense — 6:01 am ET (1001 GMT) |
