Expendable Launch Vehicle

The 45th Operations Group is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 45th Space Wing, stationed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The 45th Operations Group was responsible for program management and operation of five squadrons which perform all Eastern Range launch operations including Delta II, Delta III, Atlas II, Atlas III, Titan IV, Space Shuttle, Pegasus, and Athena space launch vehicles.
The Operations Group provides support to Naval Ordnance Test Unit operations. In support of space launch operations, the Operations Group coordinates training for the wing, manages all wing spacecraft services systems and facilities, and manages the Patrick AFB air traffic complex, handling more than 24,000 aircraft operations annually.

An Atlas IIAS rocket launched the MLV-11 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Dec. 5, 2000, from Space Launch Complex-36A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The mission was dedicated to Dan Potter, an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency assigned to the NRO and an advocate of the NRO Cub Run Partners in Education Program. Students at a local elementary school where he tutored submitted designs to be placed on the rocket’s payload fairing. The Ursa Major constellation, or the Great Bear, was selected as the theme for the contest.

The COBE satellite was developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to measure the diffuse infrared and microwave radiation from the early universe, to the limits set by our astrophysical environment.

The Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite is part of the Air Force Space Test Program which develops future key technologies with space programs supporting the Air Force, Army, Navy, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, NASA and various international space agencies.