An aerial view shows the Delta II lifting off at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Richard Freeland.

Delta II Carries NRO Payload Into Space

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calf. (12/14/06) — A Delta II lifted off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base Thursday, Dec. 14, carrying an NROL-21 satellite.

Liftoff occurred at 1 p.m. PST, right at the opening of the launch window. Ray Johnson, vice president of The Aerospace Corporation's Space Launch Operations, congratulated the entire Delta team at Vandenberg and in El Segundo, Calif., who participated in the launch for “making this such a great success." Johnson added, “This launch was a great way to end the year with 100 percent mission success.”

The Dec. 14 launch represents a record of 49 successful consecutive operational launches for the Defense Department. Aerospace team members have played a role in each of those.

“This mission was somewhat unique for the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and Aerospace in that it had some significant differences from the usual Delta II/GPS launches we have been verifying for years,” said Art Falconer, principal director of the corporation's Delta II operations. “In particular, this was the first Vandenberg Air Force Base Delta II launch for the Department of Defense since 1999, and the first-ever launch of an NRO payload aboard a Delta II from the West Coast,” he said.

Falconer said that the vehicle configuration shared the same solid rocket motors, first stage and second stage, but did not include the third stage used for Global Positioning System (GPS) missions. In addition, the payload fairing was a composite 10-foot diameter configuration as opposed to the 9 ½-foot metallic fairing for the GPS, he said.

Although the vehicle and mission were unique, the launch verification process applied by Aerospace was not altered. Falconer said that the verification tasks and depth of effort were equivalent to the corporation’s standard process applied to GPS missions. However, unlike the standard SMC launch verification process, the Independent Readiness Review Team function was performed by the NRO Mission Assurance Team. Falconer said the Aerospace Launch Directorate-led Mission Assurance Team provided an independent risk assessment to Col. James Norman, NRO mission director.

“The aft-facing cameras aboard the launch vehicle provided a spectacular view at liftoff, and a very exciting sense of motion in space when the vehicle performed a launch inclination change or dogleg shortly afterward,” said Ray Johnson, vice president, Space Launch Operations. Johnson added that this was “truly a multi-organizational team effort.” Members of the NASA launch team were on-console with the NRO, Air Force, and Aerospace personnel because SLC-2W is a NASA-owned asset, he said.

In addition, the former Boeing contractor team and senior members of the former Lockheed Martin launch team, now the United Launch Alliance (ULA), provided unified support to this inaugural launch for ULA.

“We also took advantage of our substantial experience with Delta II/GPS launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by having Eastern Test Range (ETR) personnel tied in and on-console in Florida, as well as having key ETR personnel on site at VAFB,” said Johnson.

Additional members of the Aerospace launch team supported the mission from the STARS (Spacelift Telemetry Acquisition and Reporting System) facility in El Segundo. In addition to Aerospace launch vehicle support, the corporation also had National Systems Group personnel on-console supporting the spacecraft System Program Office and providing direct support to the mission director to provide the consolidated Aerospace readiness assessment.

The days and hours pre-launch were occupied with last-minute concerns, said Falconer. “The discovery of a bad weld on a different tank in the factory forced a re-assessment of all welds on the L-21 tank. Aerospace program office and Engineering and Technology Group personnel supported ULA/Delta and worked through the night the day before launch to thoroughly analyze possible defects seen in weld X-rays for the L-21 tank and cleared the tank for launch,” he said.

“When disturbances were seen on signals associated with the stage II pitch actuator, a comprehensive assessment was done of possible causes and their threat to flightworthiness,” Falconer said. “Ultimately, the actuator was cleared for flight when thorough reviews of prior similar tests revealed that the actuator was responding as expected under the particular test conditions being imposed,” he said.

Ken Holden, general manager, Launch Operations Division, said Aerospace began the calendar year by monitoring and providing limited mission assurance support to NASA’s mission to Pluto aboard an Atlas V. During the year, Aerospace either provided direct flightworthiness certification or monitored a total of 11 successful launches--six Delta IIs, three Delta IVs, and two Atlas Vs.

Johnson acknowledged the significant successes of 2006, and noted that 2007 holds even greater challenges, with planned launches of 10 Delta IIs, four Delta IVs and five Atlas Vs. The 2007 manifest includes two launches of Delta IV Heavy vehicles, the first Defense Department launches aboard Atlas V, and many first-time integrations of ULA’s EELV configurations.

The Aerospace Corporation, based in El Segundo, Calif., is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and selected civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.

Media Inquiries: Dave Jonta, 310-336-5041, david.l.jonta@aero.org