WGS-7 (Delta IV) 23 July 2015 |
Space Launch Complex 37 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket lifts a U.S. Air Force Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite into orbit at 8:07 p.m. on 23 July 2015 from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This is the seventh satellite of an expected constellation of ten WGS satellites. Photography of the dusk launch was hampered by a broken cloud deck that intermittently hid parts of the rocket's flight, including solid rocket booster separation. A ULA press release describes the payload and its use by the U.S. military: .....Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system....satellites are an important element of a new high-capacity satellite communications system providing enhanced communications capabilities to our troops in the field for the next decade and beyond. WGS enables more robust and flexible execution of Command and Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), as well as battle management and combat support information functions. |
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The exhaust cloud caused long, faint shadows pointing toward the horizon. | |
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