Posted: Sun, Jan 12, 2003, 11:55 PM ET (0455 GMT)
A Boeing Delta 2 successfully launched two NASA science satellites Sunday evening from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Delta 2 7320 lifted off at 7:45 pm EST (0045 GMT Monday) from pad 2W at Vandenberg and placed NASA's ICESat and CHIPSat satellites into polar orbit at an altitude of approximately 580 kilometers. The launch was scheduled for Saturday but delayed because of a faulty helium pressurization system in ground support hardware; a previous attempt last month was scrubbed because of an issue with booster's payload fairing jettison system. ICESat, the rocket's primary payload, is a spacecraft that will measure the thickness of ice sheets as well as study topography and cloud structure. CHIPSat, a small spacecraft designed to study hot interstellar plasmas, was built by SpaceDev for the University of California Berkeley under NASA's University Explorer program. The launch was the 49th consecutive successful launch for the Delta 2. Another Delta 2 will launch a GPS navigation satellite January 29 from Cape Canaveral.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now mission status center
•  Boeing press release
•  NASA press release
•  SPACE.com article
•  AP article