By Xinhua
Washington : The US has launched a pair of intelligence-gathering satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida, media reports said Saturday.
The top-secret satellites were carried by an Atlas V rocket, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:14 a.m. Friday local time, and were reportedly to be used to track ships moving at sea.
The satellites were launched for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a division of the defence department that builds and operates spy satellites.
This was the ninth launch of the Atlas V rocket, built by the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
An attempt to launch the rocket on Thursday was postponed due to problems with the safety mechanism that causes the rocket to self-destruct in case of a malfunction.
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