Posted: Sat, Mar 20, 2004, 4:31 PM ET (2131 GMT)
A Boeing Delta 2 successfully launched a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite Saturday afternoon. The Boeing Delta 2 7925 lifted off from Pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 12:53 pm EST (1753 GMT), at the end of a 14-minute launch window. The launch was delayed from the beginning of the window because of a temporary increase in pressure in a nitrogen system in the booster's first stage. The Delta's payload, the GPS 2R-11 satellite, separated from the vehicle's upper stage 68 minutes after launch. The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, is the 50th GPS satellite launched in the program's history, dating back to 1978. The next Delta 2 is planned in about a month, when a Delta 2 will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying the long-delayed Gravity Probe B spacecraft for NASA.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now launch status center
•  AP article
•  Reuters article
•  Boeing press release
•  Lockheed Martin press release