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Colorado-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) sent the ninth (of 12 planned) Block IIF Global Positioning System (GPS IIF-9) satellite to its planned orbit with the launch of a Delta IV Medium+ (4,2) rocket (flight number D370). The flight got started shortly after a freak cloud had enveloped the launch site - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37B (SLC-37B) located in Florida. This version of the rocket has a four meter payload fairing, and utilizes two GEM 60 solid rocket motors affixed to the Delta IV's first stage. Launched on March 25, 2016, the mission got underway at 2:36 p.m. EDT (18:36 GMT) and marked the final time that the baseline Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68 rocket engines in the Common Booster Core (CBC) of the Delta IV. Once the Boeing-built spacecraft was placed into Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) it was redesignated USA-260. Photos courtesy: Jared Haworth, Michael Deep, Michael Howard
