The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrator spacecraft leaps into the sky from Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. STSS-Demo was launched at 8:20:22 a.m. EDT by NASA for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The STSS-Demo is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detecting, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory informatio
n to other sensors. Image credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph- Kevin O'Connell Sept. 25, 2009
