5. California's first Delta 4-Heavy
arrives at Vandenberg AFB, CA
The three Common Booster Cores and the cryogenic upper stage
to comprise the West Coast's first Delta 4-Heavy rocket arrives
aboard the Delta Mariner shipping vessel at Vandenberg Air Force
Base's harbor in September 2009 after a month-long, 4,000-mile
voyage from the factory in Alabama, including a trip through the
Panama Canal. The rocket segments were transported up the
road to Space Launch Complex 6 and the Horizontal Integration
Facility for assembly.

21. SLC-6 receives its first
Delta 4-Heavy rocket
The assembled Delta 4-Heavy rocket is transported from the
Horizontal Integration Facility to the pad at Vandenberg Air Force
Base's Space Launch Complex 6 in January 2010 to begin
extensive testing and preparation for the first West Coast flight of
the massive vehicle.

34. Delta 4-Heavy rocket goes
vertical at SLC-6
The fixed pad erector uses hydraulic pistons to lift the Delta 4-
Heavy rocket upright and place the vehicle atop the pad at
Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 6 in
January 2010. The action occurs inside the protective confines of
the mobile assembly shelter that shrouds the pad

52. Massive Delta rocket nearly
ready for launch
These images show the Delta 4-Heavy rocket as
workers retracted an assembly shelter on the eve
of blastoff from Space Launch Complex 6 at
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The triple-
body launcher will send a classified U.S. spy
satellite into orbit for the National
Reconnaissance Office.

57. Delta 4-Heavy rocket revealed
for launch at VAFB
The Delta 4-Heavy rocket is unveiled for its
critical national security satellite launch as
the mobile service gantry is retracted from
the mammoth booster at Vandenberg's
Space Launch Complex 6.
19 January 2011

61. Launch
Rocket: Delta 4-Heavy
Payload: NROL-49
Date: Jan. 20, 2011
Time: 1:08 p.m. PST (4:08 p.m. EST)
Site: SLC-6, Vandenberg AFB, Calif.