Aviation Week – (National) NRO delays Delta IV heavy launch. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has delayed the planned Cape Canaveral launch next week of an advanced geosynchronous orbit Orion eavesdropping spacecraft on board a Boeing Delta IV Heavy booster. The delay to mid January comes as the U.S. Air Force is troubleshooting problems with its Northrop/Grumman Defense Support Program (DSP) 23 spacecraft already positioned in a stationary orbit. DSP ground controllers have lost at least some command and control capability due to a software or hardware failure on that satellite and NRO engineers want to make sure there is no commonality in software, hardware, or operations that also could affect the electronic intelligence satellite. Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy carrying the highly upgraded Orion NROL-26 eavesdropping satellite had been set for December 16-18 from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 37. The combined cost of the NROL-26 spacecraft and booster is upwards of $2 billion. Source: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/NRODSP12108.xml
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