The successful launch of Boeing’s Delta IV rocket last Monday involved a record four RocketCam onboard imaging systems for capturing dramatic views of liftoff, first stage separation, second stage nozzle extension and operation, payload fairing separation, spacecraft spin-up and finally, spacecraft separation.
At the very end of the allowable launch window early Monday evening, the huge Delta IV rocket roared from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and within 45 minutes successfully inserted its USAF DSCS III A-3 spacecraft payload into the desired low Earth orbit.
This launch also represented the first of a record number of scheduled missions using RocketCams within a single year. The popular onboard imaging system, available exclusively through Ecliptic, will be employed on nine more launches in 2003 — nearly twice the launch rate and three times the number of camera systems used in any previous year.
As well, RocketCams will be employed later this year on flights involving high-attitude balloons and experimental aircraft, with spacecraft-based RocketCams coming in 2004.
The next two launches involving RocketCams are expected to be a Titan IV and Delta II in April.
To date, RocketCams have been used with 100% success on nearly two dozen launches since 1997 — including Boeing Delta II, Delta III and Delta IV rockets; Lockheed Martin Atlas 2, Atlas 3 and Atlas 5 models; Lockheed Martin Titan IV; and NASA’s Space Shuttle.
