Huge Delta rocket flies from Vandenberg, California

[Gerald]

The biggest rocket ever to launch from the US West Coast has lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The 72m-high Delta IV Heavy was carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).It has previously only operated from Florida, and the launch pad at the Californian base had to be upgraded to handle the giant vehicle.Flying the Delta from the West Coast allows the largest reconnaissance satellites to be put into polar orbits.

The vehicle is reserved for military and intelligence use, although there has long been discussion about modifying it for a role in human spaceflight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12249645

Note: 21 January 2011 Last updated at 10:10 GMT

[Sledgehammer427]

saw that on the news this morning, BIG rocket, thats for sure.

[Ducimus]

Heh, I completely forgot about Vandyland. I thought they closed most of the base down. It's amazing that old SAC base is still around.

[breadcatcher101]

I always like the Deltas, very dependable and good payload.

Years back Shuttles were to be launched from there, we took an external fuel tank there back in the '80's, but after millions of dollars for the fixtures and other hardware it was slashed from the budget.

[tater]

Looks like some insulation caught fire:
http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d352/launch/02.jpg

[UnderseaLcpl]

They must be compensating for something.

[Platapus]

The Delta IV is not man-rated nor can it easily be modified to be man-rated
Also the burn profile of the Delta IV sustains more than a 6 G acceleration and that is a bit high for human missions.

For reference, the Shuttle went in to orbit with a 3 G profile. It is a trajectory thing.

If any non-man-rated vehicle would be modified to be Man-rated, I would imagine the Atlas V is probably the best candidate. But it still will be expensive, perhaps too expensive.

[Ducimus]

They must be compensating for something.

A sense of identity. :haha: