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The launch of NROL-44 was aborted three seconds before the rocket was to lift off from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The automatic abort was triggered by a hot fire after the Delta 4 Heavy’s three engines appeared to ignite but then shut off. ULA CEO Tory Bruno said on Twitter that the cause “appears to have been in the ground system.” He said the abort system “functioned as intended to protect the vehicle and payload.” ULA said in a statement it is “reviewing all data and will determine the path forward.” Another launch...

United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket will make its first launch in over 19 months Thursday, carrying out a clandestine mission to deploy a surveillance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff is expected between 02:12 and 06:16 Eastern Daylight Time (06:12-10:12 UTC), from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Thursday’s mission, designated NRO Launch 44 (NROL-44), marks the first Delta IV mission since the Medium+ variant of the rocket was retired in August 2019 and the first Delta IV Heavy since January 2019. Although ULA is phasing out the Delta IV in favour of its Vulcan...

The launch of a Delta IV Heavy rocket that had been postponed twice from Vandenberg Air Force Base last week is now slated for Tuesday, Dec. 18. The launch is scheduled for a window that will open at 5:57 p.m. from VAFB’s Space Launch Complex-6. The rocket, provided by United Launch Alliance, will carry a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office in a mission dubbed NROL-71.

Tonight, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to launch its most powerful rocket — the Delta IV Heavy — sending up a secret spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from California. The mission will be the 132nd mission for the ULA, and the latest of many launches the company has done for the NRO, a significant customer of the launch provider. NRO keeps the purposes of its missions under wraps. However, the satellite is likely pretty heavy and is perhaps going to a high orbit if it requires the power of the Delta IV Heavy. The rocket...

Last week, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched NROL-37, carrying its latest spy satellite into geosynchronous orbit via Delta IV-Heavy rocket. But it only took amateur space enthusiasts a few days to locate the mysterious new craft in the skies near Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca. While the contents and capabilities of the NROL-37 mission's payload are classified (the satellite is innocuously labeled US-268), its need to hitch a ride on the world's biggest rocket strongly suggests it is the seventh member of the Mentor/Orion family, an extra-large class of signals intelligence (SIGINT) satellites which help provide eavesdropping capability...

This mission was launched aboard a Delta IV Heavy configuration Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), which featured a center common booster core along with two strap-on common booster cores. The ULA Delta IV Heavy is currently the world's largest rocket, providing the nation with reliable and proven heavy lift capability. Each common booster core was powered by an RS-68A liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine producing 702,000 pounds of thrust. A single RL10 liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine powered the second stage. The booster and upper stage engines are both built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. ULA constructed the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle in...

Scheduled for 11 Jun 16 at 1:51pm EDT Mission Live Updates 11Jun2016 12:19:30 EDT L-0 Day weather forecast The launch day weather forecast remains the same as yesterdays prediction with a 60% chance of favourable conditions at launch time. The radar shows some rain to the south of the area with some heavier rain off to the southwest. Certainly much better than Friday.

Explanation: Headed for two orbits of planet Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific, Orion blazed into the early morning sky on Friday at 7:05am ET. The spacecraft was launched atop a United Launch Aliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Its first voyage into space on an uncrewed flight test, the Orion traveled some 3,600 miles from Earth, about 15 times higher than the orbital altitude of the International Space Station. In fact, Orion traveled farther into space than any spacecraft designed for astronauts since the Apollo missions to the Moon. The Orion...