Delta IV Rocket Spy Satellite Launches For United States National Security, Five More In Next Months

The Delta IV Rocket was launched successfully on June 11, Saturday afternoon. The United Launch Alliance manufactured the rocket to carry a secret spy satellite. The launch was originally scheduled on June 9,Thursday but was rescheduled due to an unfavourable weather. The rocket is labelled as NROL-37 with a classified mission in support of the national security.

The NROL-37 is believed to be transporting a heavy eavesdropping satellite to more than 22,000 miles above the equator, TC Palm reported. The rocket is built with more than 2 million pounds of one main rocket with three first-stage boosters, making it the most powerful rocket at the present.

According to reports, the Delta IV rocket has a patch associated with the NRO, a knight that symbolizes courage, code of conduct, training and service to others. A United States flag is in the background with an eagle on the knight's chest to represent freedom.

The Delta IV rocket is the 32nd mission of Delta IV vehicles since 2002, and the 10th of the NRO mission. There are five national security space launches scheduled on the next four months, NROL-37 is the first among the five. Three will be boarding the Delta IV rockets while two on Atlas 5, Space Coast Daily reported.  

The boosters can generate a thrust that is capable of 30,000 pounds into the space orbit. Reportedly, two powerful rockets are scheduled, which are Falcon Heavy from SpaceX and NASA's Space Launch System.

Delta IV heavy rocket is the largest vehicle made by ULA. However, the space agency does not launch often. The last time the agency launched a rocket was in 2014, lofting the test version of crew capsule by NASA's Orion into space. The Delta IV heavy rockets first launched in 2014, with a  total of eight. It was mostly for the NRO.