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Rocket carries classified defense satellite into space

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The largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast of the United States blasted off from Vandenberg Air Base on Thursday, carrying a classified defence satellite into space.

The largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast of the United States blasted off from Vandenberg Air Base on Thursday, carrying a classified defence satellite into space. The 235-foot (71.63-metre) -tall Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle lifted off at 1:10 p.m. local time (2110GMT) carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The booster rose into the sky over California's central coast and arced over the Pacific Ocean, a spectacle visible over a wide area. United Launch Alliance (ULA), the joint venture between rocket builders Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, said the launch was a success.
The launch was pushed back two minutes to avoid an object in space that could have been in the path of the rocket, a ULA spokesman said. No payload details were released. The National Reconnaissance Office operates satellites that provide information to the Central Intelligence Agency and US Department of Defence. This was the fifth launch of a Delta IV but the first from the West Coast. The other four launches were at Cape Canaveral, in Florida. Capable of generating nearly two (m) million pounds (0.91 (m) million kilograms) of thrust, the liquid-fuel rocket has a central core booster and two extra boosters that make the assembly 50 feet (15.24 metres) wide. An upper second stage takes over when the first stage is exhausted. Preparing for the launch took three years and 100 (m) million US Dollars in infrastructure upgrades at Vandenberg, 130 miles (209 kilometres) northwest of Los Angeles.
The launch director said in a statement before lift-off that the launch would mark a milestone by restoring heavy lift capability in the nation's western range.
The last heavy lift Titan IV-B was launched at Vandenberg in 2005.
In its past, the launch complex was once configured for West Coast space shuttle launches.
It was last used in 2006.

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