Boeing

A Boeing [NYSE:BA] Delta II 7925-9.5 expendable launch vehicle lifted off this afternoon at 1:45 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, carrying a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The satellite, GeoLITE (Geosynchronous Lightweight Technology Experiment), is an advanced technology demonstration satellite with a laser communications experiment and an operational UHF communications mission. GeoLITE was built by TRW of Redondo Beach, California, and will be operated by the NRO once in orbit.

"As we continue to provide the government with assured access to space with our reliable Delta II, we are confident that we will also continue to build long-term relationships with organizations like the NRO that will carry into our Delta IV launch vehicles," said Gale Schluter, vice president of Boeing Expendable Launch Systems.

The Boeing Delta II maintains a 100 percent success rate since 1997 and is capable of delivering payloads of 898 kg to 2,030 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The NRO, a Department of Defense agency located in Chantilly, Va., is responsible for the e ngineering, development, acquisition and operation of space reconnaissance systems.

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