ULA Delta IV Heavy Launch: NRO Payload | Vandenberg Space Force Base

ULA Delta IV Heavy Launch: NRO Payload | Vandenberg Space Force Base

Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, (Sept. 24, 2022) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the NROL-91 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off on Sept. 24, 2022, at 3:25 p.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. To date ULA has launched 153 times with 100 percent mission success.

"The NRO has been, and continues to be, a phenomenal partner through 32 collaborative launch campaigns, stemming from ULA’s very first launch in 2006," said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs. “This mission was ULA’s 96th National Security mission and the NRO’s 10th mission on board a Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle—a history that we are very proud of.”

“This was also ULA’s 95th Delta mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base and our fifth and final Delta IV Heavy from the West Coast, completing a long, successful tenure of delivering critical national security payloads,” added Wentz. “We look forward to preparing Space Launch Complex-3 for future Vulcan flights from the West Coast.”

ULA’s next launch is a commercial launch of the SES-20 and SES-21 mission, planned for Sept. 30 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

The National Reconnaissance Office launched its NROL-91 mission aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on Sept. 24, 2022. Carrying a national security payload designed, built and operated by NRO, NROL-91 supports the overall national security mission to provide intelligence data to the United States’ senior policy makers, the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. NROL-91 is NRO’s fifth launch of 2022, and is part of more than a half-dozen planned launches for the year.

United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy is a heavy-lift launch vehicle, the largest type of the Delta IV family and one of the world’s most powerful rockets. The Delta IV Heavy configuration is comprised of a common booster core (CBC), a cryogenic upper stage and a 5-meter-diameter payload fairing (PLF). The Delta IV Heavy employs two additional CBCs as liquid rocket boosters to augment the first-stage CBC. The Delta IV Heavy can lift 28,370 kg (62,540 lbs) to low Earth orbit and 13,810 kg (30,440 lbs) to geostationary transfer orbit. It is an all liquid-fueled rocket, consisting of an upper stage, one main booster and two strap-on boosters.

Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Image Date: September 24, 2022

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