Centennial-based ULA launches Delta IV Heavy rocket with spy satellite
The company's heavy-lift vehicle blasts high-priority National Security mission Thursday
A Delta IV Heavy rocket by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) carrying a key national security mission successfully launched from Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida early Thursday morning.
The “NROL-68 mission” for the National Reconnaissance Office — the government’s spy satellite agency — is the second-to-last flight of ULA’s workhorse Delta rocket, according to SpaceflightNow.com.
“We continue to build on our valued partnership with the NRO and are grateful for their trust and collaboration as we work to precisely deliver critical national security capabilities to orbit,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs, in a release. “This mission marks the 11th Delta IV Heavy for the NRO and the penultimate launch of the nation’s proven heavy lift vehicle.”
The final Delta IV Heavy will launch in 2024 as ULA transitions its future missions from the East and West Coasts to the next generation Vulcan rocket, according to a ULA news release. The Vulcan rocket was supposed to launch last year.
The company in 2022 signed a deal with Amazon for the online retailer’s project to boost global broadband access. Amazon secured ULA’s Atlas V rocket for nine launches in the coming years for its Project Kuiper, which will use a “constellation of 3,236 advanced satellites in low earth orbit” for global broadband.
Company CEO Tory Bruno told a crowd at Space Symposium last year ULA has full confidence in the new engines being developed by Blue Origin for its next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket.
“Blue Origin has a delay and we’re getting it later than we planned for,” Bruno said, adding he originally thought the estimated delivery timeline was too short. “It’s a tough job. The most complicated thing about the rocket is its engines. We love the design of it. It’s talking longer, a bit more time.”
Since 2006, the company has built and successfully launched rockets more than 156 times, taking satellites and spacecraft to the stars — many of those for NASA, and joint ventures between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which has a large campus southwest of Denver.
ULA employs 1,300 people in Colorado and 2,600 nationwide. It’s got a 100% success rate.
