New Launch: 2007 December 14, 1317 UTC
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launcher: Soyuz-FG
International Designators(s): 2007-061A

SSC Name Owner
32382 RADARSAT-2 CA


"RADARSAT-2 lit up the night sky as it was launched successfully into space aboard a Soyuz rocket at 19:17 local time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Canada's next-generation commercial radar satellite offers powerful technical advancements that will enhance marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping in Canada and around the world."

RADARSAT-2 will be put into 798-km altitude sun-synchronous orbit (98.6 deg inclination) with a orbital period of 100.7 min. Additional information on RADARSAT-2 can be found on the Canadian Space Agency web site at http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/satellites/radarsat2/inf_tech.asp.

OR

New Launch: 2007 December 10, 2205 UTC
Site: Air Force Eastern Test Range, Florida, USA
Launcher: Atlas V
International Designators(s): 2007-060A

SSC Name Owner
32378 USA 198
(NROL-24) US


"Its thunderous departure out of Cape Canaveral on Monday afternoon was hard to miss, but the hush-hush ascent of the Atlas 5 rocket was wrapped in an unusual cloak of secrecy as the booster propelled high above Earth a classified spacecraft designed to communicate with spy satellites.

Under orders from the launch's customer—the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office—the rocket flight entered a news blackout shortly after its 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 GMT) liftoff from Complex 41."

"Following the tradition of NRO launches on Atlas rockets, the mission was given a name—Scorpius. The mission logo was displayed on the rocket's nose cone featuring a scorpion, a saying translated to "Beware Our Sting" and satellites flying in different types of orbits around Earth.

The rocket flew into a highly inclined, highly elliptical orbit, dispatching a satellite that's destined for a Molniya-style orbit stretching from about 500 miles to 25,000 miles at an inclination of 63 degrees. Most space experts agree the payload was a data relay satellite that will be used to route information from polar-orbiting photo reconnaissance spacecraft to ground receivers."