“… 3 … 2 … 1 …”
The final countdown for United Launch Alliance's Delta program began on Tuesday, when the last Delta IV Heavy rocket lifted off the pad.
Built by Decatur The rocket carried the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-70 satellite, ending a 60-year program. Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
“I thank my teammates, past and present, for their dedication to these important national security missions.” “The Delta IV Heavy rocket is the NRO's workhorse and has launched 12 missions carrying critical national security payloads,” said Gary Wentz, ULA's vice president of government and commercial programs.
“The NROL-70 mission is our 35thNumber “This was a successful launch with the NRO and we look forward to continuing our partnership in launching future national security space missions.”
But with the arrival of the future of heavy-lift launches with ULA's next-generation Vulcan rocket, a new era has dawned for the American space program.
“The Delta rocket has played a vital role in the evolution of spaceflight since the 1960s,” said ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno. “This final Delta mission marks the evolution of ULA. The new Vulcan rocket offers even higher performance in a single-core rocket than the three-core Delta IV Heavy rocket and will be used to launch the country's larger missions.
“We will continue to provide superior reliability and unprecedented orbit accuracy to all of our customers across the national security, civil and commercial markets.”
ULA's next launch will be a crew flight test mission of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff is scheduled for May 6 at the earliest.
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