Boeing announced Thursday its Delta II launch vehicle successfully carried into orbit an experimental payload for the joint U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
Liftoff of the Delta II 7925-9.5 configuration vehicle occurred at 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The payload was successfully deployed approximately 30 minutes later.
Jointly developed by DARPA, the Air Force and the Navy, the Micro-Satellite Technology Experiment is designed to help identify, integrate, test and evaluate small satellite technologies. The NRL provided the upper stage used to propel MiTEx into geosynchronous orbit.
Wednesday's launch also marked the 250th Aerojet-supported Delta launch. Aerojet provided the second stage AJ10-118K engine. Other major Delta II hardware elements are the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine, nine Alliant Techsystems GEM 40 solid rocket motors and the Boeing 9.5-foot diameter payload fairing.
The next Delta mission will be the first West Coast flight of a Boeing Delta IV launch vehicle, carrying a payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., later this month.
