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.
