Classified payload for NRO.
The Delta IV Heavy (Delta 9250H) is an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle, the largest type of the Delta IV family, and is the world's second highest-capacity rocket in operation. It is manufactured by United Launch Alliance and was first launched in 2004.
See DetailsUnited Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.
INFO WIKIRunning more than three months late, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket took off Thursday and carried a U.S. government spy satellite into an orbit thousands of miles above Earth in the first mission from the newly-renamed Cape …
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket on Dec. 10 at 8:09 p.m. Eastern launched NROL-44 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket successfully launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload, codenamed NROL-44 at 20:09 EST on Thursday, 10 December (01:09 UTC on Friday, 12 December).
United Launch Alliance is set to try again to launch a Delta 4-Heavy rocket and a classified U.S. government spy satellite Thursday after delays of more than three months caused by persistent issues with the mission’s launch pad.