For the company’s first launch of the year, a three-core Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying an intelligence-gathering satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office took off at 5:18 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, June 22.
At the time of liftoff at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 37 in Florida, forecasters predicted that the weather would be “go” by 90%.
Over the Atlantic Ocean, the 230-foot rocket will fly in an easterly direction. The Space Coast’s 31st mission this year will be the NROL-68 mission if it launches today.
