spacetoday.net: Final Delta 2 launches ICESat-2

Posted: Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 10:41 AM ET (1441 GMT)
Delta 2 launch of ICESat-2 (NASA)

A Delta 2 successfully launched a NASA Earth science satellite Saturday in the final launch for the venerable rocket. The Delta 2 7420-10 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:02 am EDT (1302 GMT), after a brief delay to resolve a minor technical problem. The rocket placed NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), and also deployed four cubesat secondary payloads. ICESat-2 is equipped with a laser altimeter instrument designed primarily to measure changes in the Earth's polar ice caps and other changes in ice cover worldwide. The launch was the 155th and final launch of the Delta 2, which first launched in 1989, and the 100th consecutive successful launch of the vehicle.