On January 21, 2017 at 00:42 UTC the "Atlas-5” rocket-carrier was launched from Cape Canaveral launch site of US Air Force. The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited the “SBIRS GEO Flight 3” (Space Base Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit) reconnaissance satellite. The first two SBIRS GEO satellites — launched in 2011 and 2013 — currently cover the eastern Atlantic and Europe, Africa, the Middle East, all of Asia and Australia, and the western Pacific. They are the newest part of a global constellation that employs three types of satellites in two diverse orbits to cover the entire planet with persistent monitoring to detect and track adversarial missile launches. Attachments: |