Well folks, it’s time for the final launch of the Delta IV Heavy!

Scheduled for (UTC) 2024-04-08 16:57
Scheduled for (local) 2024-04-08 12:57 (EDT)
Launch site SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida.
Launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Launch vehicle Delta IV Heavy
Customer National Reconnaissance Office
Payload NROL-70
Mission success criteria Successful launch and deployment of payload into desired orbit

Livestreams

Stream Link
ULA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCoyHHhX3rw
NASASpaceFlight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmYYhRBCwmU
Spaceflight Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DajlB_jUPM
The Launch Pad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqLtN_FRz-U
Space Affairs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd5KWlIN964
Everyday Astronaut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dViXwBU6ncA

Launch statistics and payload info

☑️ 1st (and only) Delta IV Heavy mission of 2024

☑️ 16th and final Delta IV Heavy mission overall

☑️ 2nd ULA mission of 2024

☑️ 160th ULA mission overall

Payload info (Next Spaceflight)

NROL-70 is a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

ULA mission page: https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/delta-iv-heavy-nrol-70

Mission profile: Delta IV Heavy NROL-70 Mission Profile

Previous ULA launch: Vulcan Cert-1

Wishing ULA all the best for the final launch of this magnificently chonky and fiery hydrogen rocket!

  • ryrybang@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    In case anybody is curious about the payload:

    Like most NRO missions, details of the payload are classified; however, information that has been made public leaves little doubt that it is an electronic signals intelligence (ELINT) satellite bound for geostationary orbit. From this high perch, the satellite will intercept radio signals from terrestrial sources and relay them back to the NRO for analysis.

    The NRO’s geostationary ELINT satellites are part of a series known as Orion, which began with the deployment of the USA-8 spacecraft from the Space Shuttle Discovery during 1985’s STS-51C mission. The first two satellites were launched aboard the Space Shuttle, the next three by Titan IV rockets, with the Delta IV Heavy having been used since 2009. The NROL-70 mission will be the 17th Delta IV launch for the NRO — 12 of which have used the Delta IV Heavy — and the seventh time an Orion satellite has launched aboard a Delta IV.