Workhorse Delta 2 returns to launch NASA observatory

Streaking back into action after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus, a Delta 2 rocket launched NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory No. 2 this morning to watch the Earth breathe from space. The two stage-launcher ignited its Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and three ATK strap-on boosters at 2:56 a.m. PDT (5:56 a.m. EDT) to depart a very foggy Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The solid burned for a minute, then waited another 40 seconds to clear offshore oil platforms before jettisoning some 20 miles in altitude. The vehicle had shed half of its 165-ton liftoff weight within the first two minutes of flight. The first stage accelerated the vehicle to an altitude of 70 miles before separating and letting the hypergolic second stage light as the nose cone jettisoned at 11,000 mph some five minutes after launch. The shroud separation came as a sigh of relief to the engineers and scientists on the $468 million mission after that event went horribly wrong and downed the OCO 1 satellite during its launch five years ago. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 3)