After string of delays, Delta 4 rocket launches classified spy satellite By William Harwood
December 10, 2020 / 10:42 PM / CBS News
After a string of frustrating delays, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket finally shot away from the newly renamed Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday evening, lighting up the night sky for miles around as it boosted a top-secret National Reconnaissance spy satellite into space.
The three Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68A engines powering the booster s triple-core first stage ignited with a burst of flame at 8:09 p.m. EST, three-and-a-half months after a dramatic last-second abort on August 29 that was blamed on trouble with ground equipment.
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A Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifts off Thursday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance
Running 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 Canaveral Space Force Station.