ULA’s Delta-4 Heavy successfully launches NRO spy satellite
ULA today successfully used its most powerful rocket, the Delta-4 Heavy, to place a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) surveillance satellite into orbit.
ULA now only has three Delta-4 Heavy’s in its inventory. After those launch the rocket will be retired, to be replaced by the most powerful versions of its new Vulcan rocket.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
11 SpaceX
8 China
7 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
The U.S. now leads China 16 to 8 in the national rankings.
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ULA today successfully used its most powerful rocket, the Delta-4 Heavy, to place a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) surveillance satellite into orbit.
ULA now only has three Delta-4 Heavy’s in its inventory. After those launch the rocket will be retired, to be replaced by the most powerful versions of its new Vulcan rocket.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
11 SpaceX
8 China
7 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
The U.S. now leads China 16 to 8 in the national rankings.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
For the record, this was ULA’s first launch of the year.
mkent: You are correct. In updating my database I accidently entered this ULA launch in the Northrop Grumman column, and then assumed the “2” was for ULA. I have fixed it all.
It is amazing that we are near the end of April, and only now are both ULA and Europe doing their first launches.
India too.
mkent: No, India completed its one successful launch two months ago, at the end of February. And while this is a low launch pace, it is not much different than their average pace, as they even their best years the most launches they managed was seven.
ULA however until 2017 used to routinely launch about a dozen times a year, while until 2019 Arianespace managed for years to achieve just under that number. Last year’s low numbers could be assigned to COVID, but that’s not an excuse so far this year. Both companies are far down in launches this year, though of course it is early and things could change.
Bob: You’re right! I completely forgot about the Amazonia launch, maybe because the primary payload was for Brazil and not India itself. I stand corrected.
In ULA’s case, they’re waiting for payloads. They have several Atlas Vs ready to go waiting for their payload. They still hope to get ten launches off this year, but again, that will be dependent on the payloads being ready. Now that the Delta IV Heavy went off without a hitch, I suspect the only launch threatened by a delayed launch vehicle will be the inaugural Vulcan launch.