Secret US spy satellite launches on classified mission
FoxNews.com
By space.com
September 14, 2012
A secret U.S. spy satellite launched into space atop a 19-story rocket Thursday (Sept. 13), ending a six-week delay for the latest clandestine space mission by the National Reconnaissance Office.
An Atlas 5 rocket launched the new NROL-36 satellite and 11 tiny research satellites into orbit from a pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket lifted off at 2:39 p.m. PDT (5:39 p.m. EDT/2139 GMT) following weeks of delay due to launch range issues.
“Liftoff occurred right on time at the top of the window,” said launch commentator Don Spencer of United Launch Alliance (ULA), the company that oversaw the NROL-36 flight for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
Because the NROL-36 satellite’s mission is classified, it entered a media blackout 4.5 minutes after liftoff.
The NROL-36 spacecraft’s national defense mission is the fourth and last flight of 2012 for the NRO, which builds and operates the United States’ spy satellites …
Read on: www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/13/secret-us-spy-satellite-launches-into-space-after-6-week-delay
