Rocket with secret satellite launched from Calif.

[September 21, 2010]  VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) -- A rocket carrying classified satellite cargo has been successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast.

A release from the base says the Atlas 5 rocket carrying a national security payload for the National Reconnaissance Office was launched Monday shortly after 9 p.m.

No details about the satellite's orbit or capabilities were released.

The launch was a project three years in the making by Vandenberg's 30th Space Wing, the United Launch Alliance and the NRO, which oversees the nation's constellation of spy satellites.

[Associated Press]

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