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UPDATE : The launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket has been postponed indefinitely . According toa tweet from United Launch Alliance(ULA ) posted on Thursday , an on-going problem with a gaseous atomic number 7 pipeline has force the team to scrub the missionary post and blame a young date . The command reads:“The team go on to trouble-shoot the pipeline and more clip is needed to instill confidence in the system . We will stay on to work on with our customer to confirm our next launching attempt and a new particular date will be provided upon solving . “The launching was previosuly reschedule to Friday ( March 29 ) at 1:37 p.m. EDT , due to the issue . Here is the full statementissued by the United Launch Alliance:“The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy carrying the NROL-70 missionary post for the National Reconnaissance Office was scrubbed due to an issue with the gaseous atomic number 7 pipeline which provide pneumatic pressure sensation to the launch vehicle systems . The team originate operations to secure the vehicle . The launching is now project for Fri . , March 29 at 1:37 p.m. EDT.“The United Launch Alliance ’s ( ULA ) last Delta rocket is scheduled to launch tomorrow ( March 29 ) at 1:37 p.m. ET ( 5:37 p.m. GMT ) on a classified mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office ( NRO ) — and you’re able to watch it know right on here .
The launch will cease a 64 - year streak for the Delta rocket fleet , which was plan to lift big payloads into space . The Delta IV Heavy rocket , which is the 16th of its sort to set in motion since 2004 , will carry a secret cargo as it lifts off one last time from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida .
The United Launch Alliance prepares to launch a Delta IV Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The ULA has not disclosed the nature of the payload that is blasting off into space , but it likely lie in of a advanced satellite , agree to Live Science ’s sister siteSpace.com . The NRO is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense tasked with designing and operating surveillance satellites , and it rarely spend a penny the nature and purpose of its reconnaissance systems get laid to the public .
All we have a go at it about the current mission is its name , NROL-70 , and when it is scheduled to lift off , which you canwatch live on a ULA webcast , embedded below .
" The NROL-70 mission will strengthen the NRO ’s ability to provide a wide - chain of well timed intelligence activity information to national determination makers , warfighters , and intelligence analysts to protect the land ’s vital sake and keep going humanitarian movement worldwide , " representatives of the ULA write in amission statement .
The National Reconnaissance Office, an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, is using a Delta IV Heavy rocket to carry out its secretive NROL-70 mission.
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It is uncertain whether the Delta rocket will in reality take off at the freshly announced clip , as ground winds and agglomerate clouds have produce unfavourable consideration , already resulting in delay . The forty-fifth Weather Squadron auspicate a 30 % chance that the weather will settle down enough for launching on Thursday and a 60 % opportunity of favorable shape on Friday ( March 29 ) , according toSpaceflight Now .
Ground confidential information are especially concern , as there is a risk the Eruca sativa will be fumble back against the launch tower , ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno say during a press conference .
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" It count on the slant of the wind , " Bruno state . " We can launch through a passably narrow moment in fourth dimension . So , if the winds tranquillise down , even for just a few minutes … then we ’ll launch through that chance . "
The Delta IV Heavy rocket engine is not the only rocket that is pass the end of its vocation , with ULA also planning to turn in Atlas V. The space launching companionship is making means for its novel Vulcan Centaur skyrocket , whosecontroversial first mission — sending Astrobotic ’s ill - fated Peregrine lunar lander moonward — launched in early January . Despite a successful launch , the Peregrine spacecraftsuffered a fuel leakalmost at once , cutting short its missionand forcing it to crash back through Earth ’s atmosphere on Jan. 19 .
