Space Launch Complex 6 – Page 3

Delta 4 launch from California slips to January

December 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of a top secret National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been pushed back from Dec. 13 until no earlier than Jan. 10 to complete software validation on the Delta 4 rocket’s new avionics system, United Launch Alliance announced Wednesday.

Photos: More Delta 4 launch shots

February 11, 2016 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket blasts into the predawn skies at Vandenberg Air Force Base with the NROL-45 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

Photos: Delta 4 launches on secret NROL-45 mission

February 10, 2016 Justin Ray

A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket flight to deploy the NROL-45 spy satellite payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

Delta 4 goes against the grain to backwards orbit for spy bird

February 10, 2016 Justin Ray

Soaring in fine fashion before daybreak, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket maneuvered a new spy satellite into a unique retrograde orbit Wednesday morning to join an expanding constellation of radar-imaging spacecraft.

Video: Delta 4 launches before dawn from California

February 10, 2016 Justin Ray

A replay of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket launching on the NROL-45 satellite-deployment mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Photos: Delta 4 rocket revealed

February 10, 2016 Justin Ray

The 32-story-tall mobile service tower is retracted from the Delta 4 rocket at Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 6 pad for the NROL-45 flight that will place a surveillance satellite into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

Live coverage: Delta 4 countdown and launch journal

February 9, 2016 Justin Ray

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 3:40 a.m. local (6:40 a.m. EST; 1140 GMT) today to place a secret payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the mission in our live journal.

National Reconnaissance Office to begin year’s manifest with Delta 4

February 9, 2016 Justin Ray

Beginning the National Reconnaissance Office’s campaign of four launches in 2016 using boosters big and small to deploy a varied collection of new intelligence satellites, a Delta 4 rocket stands ready for liftoff before sun-up Wednesday from California.

Photos: NROL-45 payload fitted atop Delta 4 for launch

February 9, 2016 Justin Ray

This collection of photographs shows the National Reconnaissance Office’s classified NROL-45 payload, already encapsulated in the Delta 4 nose cone, being moved from the payload processing facility at Space Launch Complex 6 and lifted atop the United Launch Alliance rocket for flight from Vandenberg.

‘Slick 6:’ 30 years after the hopes of a West Coast space shuttle

February 8, 2016 Justin Ray

It was 1986 and the U.S. Air Force was on the cusp of something unprecedented in human spaceflight — launching a space shuttle crew from California and paving the way for people to fly true polar missions.