The Delta II rocket lifts off the pad on Sept. 25 from Cape Canaveral carrying the first in a new fleet of modernized Global Positioning System satellites. Photo courtesy Carlton Ballie.

Delta Launch Ties Record for
Successful Consecutive Launches

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (9/25/05) -- The Delta II launch Sept. 25 of the first modernized Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, GPS IIR-14M, was significant for a couple of reasons, according to Ray Johnson, vice president of Space Launch Operations, and Dr. Dave Gorney, vice president of Space Program Operations at The Aerospace Corporation.

“For one, this was the 42nd successful consecutive operational launch for the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, and it ties the record for the most successful launches by the Air Force,” Johnson said. The Aerospace Corporation supports all national-security launches for the Air Force.

Gorney added, “This launch was important to the GPS program and its users around the world because this is the first of a new fleet of modernized GPS satellites.”

“The modernized GPS satellites transmit new navigational signals to both military and civilian users, thereby increasing navigational accuracy and availability for all users,” Gorney said.

Johnson congratulated the El Segundo and Cape Delta teams for “making this such a success.”
The launch lifted off from Space Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Aerospace Corporation 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.