Delta II Set to Launch NASA's WISE Mission Dec 11

• Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)

(Vandenberg AFB, Calif., December 9, 2009) -- A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket will lift off from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Dec. 11 at 6:09 a.m., launching NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft into orbit. The launch window is 6:09-6:23 a.m. PST. Should the launch be postponed 24 hours, the launch window remains the same.

This is last launch of 2009 for ULA. WISE is the eighth Delta II of the year and completes a string in which ULA will launch 37 successful missions in 36 months.


WISE will scan the entire sky using an infrared telescope with sensitivity hundreds of times greater than ever before possible, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. The mission will uncover objects never seen, including the coolest stars, the universe's most luminous galaxies and some of the darkest near-Earth asteroids and comets.

Source : United Launch Alliance