By Aazam
September 25, 2022
The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch the National Reconnaissance Office mission in September. 24 at Space Launch Complex-6 located at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
The mission will also be the final mission launched by Delta 4 from the west coast. ULA has signed an agreement to launch two additional missions with Delta 4 Heavy in 2023 and 2024. However, they will operate out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, following which the aircraft will be retired
Launch of NROL-91 will mark the end of a time that began in the late 1960s, Colonel Chad Davis, NRO's director of the Space Launch Office, told reporters on the 22nd of September. "I think bittersweet is exactly the word to use with it
After that NROL-91 project, ULA plans to begin cleaning the pad, referred to by the name of Space Launch Complex-6
The future vehicle formULA called Vulcan Centaur, Vulcan Centaur, will launch from Space Launch Complex-3 in Vandenberg near the point from which ULA is currently operating their Atlas 5 rocket
In a phone interview with reporters on Wednesday, Colonel Brian Titus, Vice Commander of Space Launch Delta 30 at Vandenberg said range officers are currently in conversations with the launch company to secure a new lease for the SLC-6
"I'm sure it will be used," Titus stated about the SLC-6. He refused to identify the prospective tenants. Today, the majority of launches at Vandenberg are managed by SpaceX which owns Space Launch Complex-4 for launches and booster landings