Atlas launches NRO satellite
Posted: Sat, Dec 13, 2014, 11:01 AM ET (1601 GMT)
An Atlas 5 rocket successfully launched a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Friday evening. The Atlas 5 541 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:19 pm PST Friday (10:19 pm EST Friday, 0319 GMT Saturday) on a mission designated NROL-35. Coverage of the mission was blacked out shortly after liftoff, but United Launch Alliance and the NRO declared the mission a success a couple hours later. NRO did not disclose the spacecraft's mission, although observers speculate it may be a signals intelligence satellite. The launch was the most powerful variant of the Atlas to launch from Vandenberg, and the first to use a new version of the RL10 upper stage engine that will eventually be used by both the Atlas and Delta vehicles.
An Atlas 5 rocket successfully launched a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Friday evening. The Atlas 5 541 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:19 pm PST Friday (10:19 pm EST Friday, 0319 GMT Saturday) on a mission designated NROL-35. Coverage of the mission was blacked out shortly after liftoff, but United Launch Alliance and the NRO declared the mission a success a couple hours later. NRO did not disclose the spacecraft's mission, although observers speculate it may be a signals intelligence satellite. The launch was the most powerful variant of the Atlas to launch from Vandenberg, and the first to use a new version of the RL10 upper stage engine that will eventually be used by both the Atlas and Delta vehicles.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, June 11
Boosting European leadership in in-space operations and services
ESA — 6:40 am ET (1040 GMT) Estonian municipalities test Starlink to bolster crisis readiness
ERR — 6:39 am ET (1039 GMT) Starlink mission set to go Thursday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base
Lompoc Record — 6:37 am ET (1037 GMT) Rural Americans flocked to Elon Musk’s Starlink. Now some feel trapped.
Washington Post — 6:36 am ET (1036 GMT) India’s satellite broadband crackdown: Three operators, one bottleneck, no launch date
Communications Today — 6:35 am ET (1035 GMT) |
