Launch delayed to avoid spy satellite debris

The planned launch of an Atlas 5 rocket with a classified payload is being pushed back to avoid the scattered remnants of a spy satellite that was destroyed last week in a deliberate Navy missile shot.

The powerful United Launch Alliance rocket and its National Reconnaissance Office payload had been slated to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California during a window that stretched from 5 a.m. EST to 8 a.m. EST on Friday.

"The NRO will postpone its launch of mission NROL-28 approximately two weeks as a precautionary move to avoid possible debris from the NRO experimental satellite which was intercepted last Wednesday, 20 Feb 2008," the NRO said in a statement today. "When established, the revised date will be posted."

A crippled NRO technology demonstration spacecraft was blasted into pieces last week by a missile launched from a U.S. Navy cruiser in the Pacific Ocean. Pentagon officials said the action was necessary to prevent the satellite's near-full tank of toxic rocket fuel from crashing into a populated area, exposing people and property to injury or even death.



Check out this Pentagon video. It shows the missile blasting off from the cruiser and, ultimately, smashing into the satellite. You can clearly see the direct hit on the spacecraft. The video comes from the Pentagon Channel and is embedded here. Just click play. The strike happens about 43 seconds into the video.

You can see the still image below of the missile blasting off the USS Lake Erie on Wednesday night (courtesy of the U.S. Navy).















If the video doesn't show up here, you can click here to watch in Windows Media Player.

NRO officials expect debris from the satellite blast to burn up as it falls back through the atmosphere in the next two weeks, eliminating risk to the Atlas 5 rocket and its payload during ascent.

The launch will mark the 25th NRO satellite-delivery mission since the super-secret organization, which owns and operates the nation's fleet of spy satellites, began acknowledging launches back in December 1996.

The launch also will mark the first Atlas 5 mission from the west coast. The rocket will blast off from a converted launch complex -- SLC-3E -- at Vandenberg.

For launch updates call the United Launch Alliance hotline: 1-877-852-4321. A live simulcast will be available starting approximately 20 minutes prior to launch on the ULA Web Cast page.