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ILS Launches Atlas IIAS with NRO Payload

By Staff Writer | December 2, 2003

      An Atlas IIAS rocket successfully lifted off Tuesday at 2:04 a.m. PST (10:04 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying a national security payload for the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.

      McLean, Va.-based International Launch Services (ILS), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and Russia’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Center and RSC Energia, provided the launch services.

      Separately, ILS announced that a Proton launch vehicle lifted off Nov. 24 at 9:22 a.m. Moscow time and placed two Yamal-200 telecommunications satellites into geostationary orbit. This was the third launch for the Khrunichev-built Proton rocket in 2003.