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Boeing Delta II Delivers NASA's ICESat And CHIPSat To Orbit
Vandenberg AFB - Jan 12, 2003 A Boeing Delta II rocket successfully launched the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer Satellite (CHIPSat) today in a dual primary payload mission for NASA. The Delta II lifted off at 4:45pm PST (0045 UTC Jan 13) from Space Launch Complex 2W, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., delivering both satellites to circular polar orbits. ICESat was deployed first at one-hour and four minutes into flight, followed by CHIPSat that was deployed 19 minutes and 20 seconds later. A Delta II 7320-10 launch vehicle with a Reduced Height Dual Payload Attach Fitting (RH-DPAF) was used for the mission. The RH-DPAF enables two satellites of different sizes to be launched aboard the same rocket.
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