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This is a list of NRO Launch (NROL) designations for satellites operated by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. Those missions are generally classified, so that their exact purposes and orbital elements are not published.
Critics worried that each of these "exquisite-class" [2] satellites would cost more than the Navy's latest aircraft carrier (US$6.35 billion in 2005, or about $9,910,000,000 today [3]). [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Instead, USA-224–the first of these two–was completed by Lockheed $2 billion under the initial budget estimate and two years ahead of schedule.
NROL-49 lifted off from Vandenberg AFB on 20 January 2011. [52] It was the first Delta IV Heavy mission to be launched out of Vandenberg. This mission was for the NRO and its details are classified. [92] On 4 October 2012, a Delta IV M+ (4,2) experienced an anomaly in the upper stage's RL10B-2 engine
The U.S. Space Force and a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture sent a secret reconnaissance payload to orbit on Tuesday atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket, the last flight of a workhorse launch vehicle brand ...
On December 19, 2020, NROL-108 was successfully launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. [47] On July 15, 2020, NROL-149 was successfully launched aboard the first launch of Northrop Grumman's new Minotaur IV rocket. On April 27, 2021, NROL-82 was successfully launched aboard United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV rocket. [48]
USA-247, also known as NRO Launch 39 or NROL-39, is an American reconnaissance satellite, operated by the National Reconnaissance Office and launched in December 2013. The USA-247 launch received a relatively high level of press coverage due to the mission's choice of logo, which depicts an octopus sitting astride the globe with the motto "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach". [2]
[2] [3] The initial development budget was US$5 billion for the first 5 years, and the total lifetime budget was US$10 billion. A NRO evaluation team estimated that Lockheed Martin 's competing proposal would require about US$1 billion (inflation adjusted US$ 1.83 billion in 2023) more to implement than Boeing's proposal.
USA-184 was launched by Boeing, using a Delta IV carrier rocket flying in the Medium+(4,2) configuration. The rocket was the first Delta IV to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, flying from Space Launch Complex 6, [3] a launch pad originally constructed as part of abandoned plans for crewed launches from Vandenberg, originally using Titan rockets, and later Space Shuttles. [4]