spacetoday.net: Delta 2 launches Italian satellite

Updated: Fri, Jun 8, 2007, 7:15 AM ET (1115 GMT)
Originally Posted: Fri, Jun 8, 2007, 7:13 AM ET (1113 GMT)
Delta 2 launch file photo (Boeing)

A Delta 2 rocket placed an Italian remote sensing satellite into low Earth orbit late Thursday night. The Delta 2 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 10:34 pm EDT Thursday (0234 GMT Friday) and placed the COSMO-SkyMed 1 satellite into a polar orbit. The satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space Italia, is the first of four planned under a joint project by the Italian defense ministry and space agency that will provide radar imagery of the Earth's surface. The second COSMO-SkyMed satellite is scheduled for launch late this year or early next year, also on a Delta 2. The launch was a commercial mission by Boeing Launch Services under a contract with United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture that produces the Delta and Atlas launch vehicles.