ulalaunch
ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has instructed the launch team to coordinate a new liftoff time of 1:47 p.m. PDT (4:47 p.m. EDT; 2047 UTC UTC) for the Delta IV Heavy rocket on the NROL-82 mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California today.
Photo by United Launch Alliance
The one-minute adjustment is due to a Collision Avoidance (COLA) closure that prohibits liftoff at the opening of the window today.
COLAs are brief moments in time when the launch is not allowed to occur because the trajectory would pass too close to another object already in space. This analysis is based on a screening of known active and debris objects in orbit that could cause a conjunction with the ascending rocket and payload.