A Lockheed Martin Titan 4B rocket, known as B-30, launched a classified payload (a LACROSSE 5 radar-imaging satellite) for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket was expected to launch sometime between 0000 and 0230GMT April 30, though the specific time of liftoff was classified, the U.S. Air Force conducted the launch at 0050 GMT.
The Launch was delayed from Dec. 18, 2001 and July 3, 2002, and transferred from the original launch site of Vandenberg Air Force Base. This launch will mark the 168th and last Titan vehicle to fly from Cape Canaveral since 1959. The intelligence-gathering satellite, 700 kilometres up in a 57º degree inclination orbit, uses a synthetic-aperture radar system to observe strategic targets around the globe.
