The Air Force has delayed the launch of the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) NROL-67 satellite until no earlier than April 10 due to continuing issues with a mandatory range asset needed to support the effort, launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) said in a statement.
The Air Force and ULA had originally planned the launch for Tuesday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. ULA said the Atlas V rocket will be rolled back to the vertical integration facility and will be set to launch as soon as the range asset is able to support. ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye said Thursday no other ULA launches are impacted by the delay.
ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA]. The Atlas V uses the Russian-made RD-180 first stage liquid oxygen-kerosene engine developed by NPO Energomash and distributed in the United States by RD AMROSS, a joint venture of NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]