spacetoday.net: Delta 2 launches GPS satellite

Posted: Mon, Mar 31, 2003, 8:33 PM ET (0133 GMT)
Delta 2 launch file photo (Boeing)

A Delta 2 booster successfully launched a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite Monday afternoon. The Delta 2 7925 lifted off from pad 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 5:09 pm EST (2209 GMT), and spacecraft separation took place 68 minutes later. The launch took place at the end of a 15-minute launch window; the launch was delayed from the beginning of the window because of two range problems. The Delta 2 carried the GPS 2R-9 satellite built by Lockheed Martin. The launch was the second Delta 2 launch of a GPS satellite in as many months, with a third scheduled for July. While new GPS satellites are normally made operational about 60 days after launch, Air Force officials said this new satellite would be pressed into service within two weeks to support the war in Iraq. The next Delta 2 launch is scheduled for mid-April with the inaugural flight of the Delta 2 Heavy, a Delta 2 with the larger strap-on boosters developed for the Delta 3. That booster will launch NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) spacecraft.