April 9 LIVE Broadcast: Delta IV Heavy NROL-70

 

April 9 LIVE Broadcast: Delta IV Heavy NROL-70

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket is launching the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This is the 16th and final launch of a Delta IV Heavy rocket.

 

Launch Date and time: April 9, 2024 at 12:53 p.m. EDT,

 

GO Delta IV Heavy! GO NROL-70!

 

After six decades of launches, the liftoff of the last-ever Delta rocket on Tuesday (April 9) brought with it a change in the way the U.S. sends satellites, interplanetary probes and spacecraft into Earth orbit.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) ignited its last Delta IV Heavy rocket to launch NROL-70, a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The powerful booster departed Space Launch Complex-37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 12:53 p.m. EDT (1653 GMT), literally setting itself on fire for the 16th and final time.

"It is a bittersweet moment for us," said Tory Bruno, chief executive officer of United Launch Alliance, in a call with reporters on March 26. "It is such an amazing piece of technology — 23 stories tall, hall a million gallons of propellant, two and a quarter million pounds of thrust and the most metal of all rockets, setting itself on fire before it goes to space."

That spectacle, which was unique to the Delta IV in its heaviest configuration, was the result of hydrogen building up in the flame trench and then rising up alongside the rocket after it was used to cool down the three RS-68A engines to cryogenic temperatures. When the engines fired, the hydrogen ignited and flames lapped at the orange insulation covering the core stage and its two side-mounted boosters.

"It's why we had nicely toasted marshmallow boosters and the very dramatic effect of a self-immolating rocket before up she goes," said Bruno.

The two boosters were jettisoned about four minutes into the flight, followed by the core, or first stage, separating one minute and 45 seconds later. A single RL10C-2-1 engine on the Delta cryogenic second stage then took over, propelling the NROL-70 payload into space. Due to national security concerns, coverage of the launch ceased following fairing jettison at about 6 minutes and 40 seconds into the flight.

Related: Facts about ULA's Delta IV Heavy rocket

 

 

 

https://www.space.com/final-delta-4-heavy-rocket-launch-nrol-70

https://www.space.com/40360-delta-iv-heavy.html

https://www.ulalaunch.com/rockets/delta-iv

https://www.nasa.gov/news/all-news/

https://www.space.com/