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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 ...
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]
On 20 January 2011, at 1:10 p.m. PST, USA-224 (NROL-49) was launched atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket. The launch was conducted by ULA and was the first flight of a Delta IV Heavy from Vandenberg. The launch was conducted by ULA and was the first flight of a Delta IV Heavy from Vandenberg.
The system launched the TDRS-11, [100] Landsat 8, AEHF-3, and NROL-39 satellites, as well as SBIRS, GPS, and MUOS satellites, as well as NASA's MAVEN space probe to Mars. Delta IV launches orbited the fifth and sixth Wideband Global SATCOM satellites WGS-5 and WGS-6 , [ 101 ] as well as NROL-65 .
On 3 April 2012, a second satellite, USA-234 or NROL-25, was launched into a similar orbit. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] The earlier USA-193 satellite, launched in 2006, is believed to have been a technology demonstration satellite intended to test and develop systems for the FIA radar programme. [ 21 ]