GPS IIF-2 Launched from Cape Canaveral Early Saturday
Date: Sunday, July 17 @ 21:29:48 UTC
Topic:
Early Saturday morning a Delta IV rocket carrying the latest GPS satellite blasted off on it's journey into space. This was the second of the new block IIF satellites made by Boeing to be launched. Boeing have been contracted to supply 12 block IIF GPS satellites to replace existing spacecraft which are reaching the end of their operational life.
The launch was the 50th GPS satellite, all of which have been deployed on Delta rockets: 48 on Delta II and now 2 on Delta IV. The launch originally scheduled for June 28th was delayed 3 times, to July 14th and 15th for technical reasons then again to July 16th because of weather.
Early morning July the 16th broke that chain of delays and the Delta IV and the GPS satellite reached out to space, continuing to replenish the constellation of NAVSTAR GPS navigation satellites pinpointing our location.
The launch video follows the rocket launch for the first 2 minutes of the flight clearly showing the SRB separation.
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