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Titan 401A Centaur | NROL-4

NROL-4 (Trumpet 3) Patch

United States Air Force · Titan 401A Centaur · Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

United States Air Force's 985th launch · 13th this year · humanity's 4,189th orbital launch attempt

November 8, 1997Add to calendar
Success

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Window: Nov 8, 02:05Nov 8, 02:05 UTC

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NROL-4 (Trumpet 3)

Trumpet signal intelligence satellites were launched by Titan-4(01)A Centaur-T into highly elliptic Molniya-type orbits. In their elliptical orbits they would move very slowly over the northern hemisphere for most of their orbital period, allowing interception of microwave line-of-sight communications beams. Since they would move slowly through the beams during their orbit, a constellation of such satellites was required to monitor Soviet communications throughout the day.

Government/Top Secret · Geostationary Orbit (Direct-GEO)

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Pad — Space Launch Complex 41

125 launches from this pad · 1,121 from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Map of Space Launch Complex 41Open in maps