Delta II Launches from Cape Canaveral This Morning

A new NAVSTAR Global Positing System satellite received a boost into orbit this morning as a United Launch Alliance Delta II lifted off on a flawless flight from Cape Canaveral.

Liftoff of the Delta II 7925 occurred from launch complex 17A from here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on time at 4:34 am EDT this morning. An uneventful countdown proceeded a beautiful predawn launch.

One minute into the ascent, the six ground ignited solid rocket boosters cutoff and seperated from the Delta II, and then light three more boosters as the center main engine continued to burn. Four minutes into the launch, the Delta II was nearly 29 miles high and speeding over the central Atlantic Ocean at 5,366 mph.

GPS is a space-based radio-positioning system consisting of a minimum of a 24 satellite constellation that provides navigation and timing information to both the military as well as private users worldwide. From your car's GPS, to your cell phone's own smaller GPS, to how certain location software's are able to locate you via networking sites, today we see this technology in our daily lives.

The GPS IIR-20M will spend the next few weeks stepping through several on orbit system tests, and correcting it's altitude prior to going into service.