1st Atlas Launch of Year is Record-Setting 75th Atlas Success in a Row

A Lockheed Martin Atlas IIIB rocket lifts off the foggy launch pad 36B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, early February 3, 2005. The Atlas/Centaur carried a clandestine satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch marked the final mission from this launch pad which has a long history of successes such as the Lunar Surveyor paving the way for Apollo missions to land on the moon

ILS LAUNCHES NRO PAYLOAD 1st Atlas Launch of Year is Record-Setting 75th Atlas Success in a Row

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., February 3, 2005 -- When an Atlas III launch vehicle successfully placed a national security payload into orbit early this morning, it set an industry record of 75 consecutive successful missions for the Atlas vehicle.

The string dates back to mid-1993, and includes the entire Atlas II and Atlas III series of vehicles as well as Atlas V vehicles launched to date. The Atlas vehicles are built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and marketed worldwide by International Launch Services (ILS).

“This is an outstanding achievement,” said ILS President Mark Albrecht. “It’s a testament to the dedication and discipline of the entire Atlas team, who put quality and Mission Success foremost as our priorities. We’re especially pleased to accomplish this historic launch together with our Air Force and Office of Space Launch partners.”

The Atlas III vehicle, designated AC-206, lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 36B at 2:41 a.m. EST with a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The payload was released into orbit about 79 minutes later. Details of the payload and mission, known as NROL-23, are classified. This mission commenced only about five hours after another ILS vehicle, a Russian Proton rocket, lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a commercial communications satellite.

Today’s Cape Canaveral launch retires the Atlas III model after six flights, and was the final Atlas mission from Launch Complex 36. The final Atlas II vehicle flew from Pad 36A last Aug. 31, also with an NRO payload. Since 1962, 145 Atlas vehicles have been launched from Complex 36 - 69 from Pad A and 76 from Pad B. Operations were run from a “blockhouse” that dates back to the 1960s, but with electronic systems that were upgraded along with the rockets. Lockheed Martin will be shutting down all operations at Complex 36 over the next several months and return the facilities to Air Force control.

“Some may see this as the end of an era, but the best tribute we can make to the Atlas heritage is to continue the excellent work of this program,” Albrecht said.

"The Atlas program has always been about evolution. This has been a model program in how to develop a successful launch vehicle. The Atlas II family has a fantastic history. Atlas III was developed to bridge the technical and operational differences between Atlas IIAS and Atlas V. In reality, today’s mission is the 10th successful launch of the next-generation Atlas family of Atlas III and Atlas V, which combine the best - RD-180 propulsion with the Centaur upper stage. Now the transition to Atlas V is complete and the only remaining development will focus on requirements unique to our U.S. government customers," Albrecht said.

“An Atlas is an Atlas, and that defines reliability,” Albrecht continued. “Our customers and the insurance community apparently agree - we have the best insurance rates in the industry, and we can boast customers from commercial, defense and civil space organizations around the world.”

ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Russian rocket builder Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. ILS markets and manages the missions on the Atlas and Proton vehicles. ILS was formed in 1995, and is based in McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

With a remarkable launch rate of 72 missions since 2000, the Atlas and Proton launch vehicles have consistently demonstrated the reliability and flexibility that have made them the preferred choice among satellite operators worldwide. Since the beginning of 2003, ILS has signed more new commercial contracts than all of its competitors combined.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2004 sales of $35.5 billion.

Congrats to LMA and NRO!

From spaceflightnow.com

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/ac206/

Last Atlas 3 rocket launches a pair of spy satellites
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: February 3, 2005

While its liftoff was hidden by a dense blanket of fog draped over Cape Canaveral's Complex 36 Thursday morning, the last Lockheed Martin Atlas 3 rocket flew into the history books in fine style as it successfully launched two formation-flying spy satellites probably meant to track enemy ships at sea.

A camera on the rocket shows the Atlas 3 ascending from its foggy launch pad Thursday morning.

As the countdown commenced Wednesday afternoon, an approaching weather system sparked pessimism that thick clouds and rain would all but certainly scrub the launch. Air Force meteorologists predicted a 95 percent chance of unacceptable conditions at the planned liftoff time.

But the launch team moved forward with pre-flight activities, rolling back the protective gantry enclosing the 176-foot-tall Atlas 3B rocket atop pad 36B and loading super-cold propellants into its stages.

As the night wore on, Mother Nature began to smile upon Cape Canaveral as the cloud cover and rain cleared. The 95 percent "no go" forecast changed to 70 percent and eventually no weather rules were threatened as the count entered its final phases.

Not all would be ideal for the VIPs, news media and spectators watching the night owl ascent, however. Fog began developing over the Space Coast and quickly swallowed the pad from view.

The launch team, seated inside the Complex 36 blockhouse located next to the pad, oversaw a smooth and uneventful countdown. With this last mission by Atlas 3 and the recent retirement of the Atlas 2 series of vehicles, this would be the final Atlas liftoff from the site after 43 years.

As clocks ticked down, the 145th and farewell launch from Complex 36 was cleared for an on-time departure at 2:41 a.m. EST (0741 GMT), beating the weather odds and not hampered by the foggy conditions.

Watching from 2.5 miles away at the Cape's famed Press Site 1, reporters and photographers saw not even a glow as the rocket's Russian-designed RD-180 engine blasted to life. After the powerplant's vital signs were checked in the last moments of the countdown, clamps fighting to keep the rocket Earthbound sprang back in an instant and the vehicle was free to fly.

The chest-pounding roar of the rocket rushed across the quiet night, but there was still no Atlas to be seen in the wall of fog. Riding on nearly a million pounds of thrust, the vehicle raced upward and suddenly appeared above the fog bank about 20 seconds into flight with its flickering exhaust of golden flame morphing into a super-hot bluish tail.

It was clear sailing after ascending above the fog as viewers could see the rocket for a couple of minutes. The rocket headed northeast, hugging the U.S. eastern seaboard on a unique trajectory.

A rear-facing camera mounted on the vehicle captured crisp views of the spent first stage separating and disappearing into the night only to be illuminated a few seconds later as the Centaur upper stage ignited its main engine. One half of the rocket's jettisoned nose cone could be seen falling away, too.

Nearly 18 minutes into flight as the vehicle flew just south of Greenland, the Centaur reached its initial orbit around the Earth. The rocket coasted around the world for an hour before re-starting the hydrogen-fueled RL10 engine over the South Pacific to nudge its clandestine payload into the intended orbit. About 79 minutes after liftoff, Centaur successfully deployed its cargo into an orbital perch that flies as much as 63 degrees north and south of the equator.

A short time later, sharp-eyed satellite observing hobbyists in Canada spotted two satellites flying close to each other and the discard Centaur nearby. The sighting, coupled with the orbit achieved, left little doubt this was the third in a series of launches performed in the past three-and-a-half years that have placed satellite pairs into such a highly-inclined Earth orbit.

This type of orbit was used by 11 spacecraft missions, each featuring a trio of small satellites flying in a triangular formation, launched between 1971 and 1996. They were believed to be part of a network commonly called the Naval Ocean Surveillance System, or NOSS.

The more recent launches using Atlas 2AS rockets from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in September 2001 and December 2003 mirrored those earlier flights. But observers watching the skies see only two satellites from the Atlas launches instead of three, suggesting a new generation and design for the NOSS system.

The National Reconnaissance Office -- the secretive government agency responsible for designing and operating the U.S. fleet of spy satellites -- uses the NOSS spacecraft to keep tabs on ships around the globe, experts believe.

The spacecraft are thought to be capable of detecting radio transmissions from ships to precisely pinpoint a vessel's location. Tracking suspicious ships in the war on terror is a critical purpose of the NOSS network, the experts say.

For more on goodbye to Complex 36, see our separate story.

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