Atlas V 551 | USSF-51
Launch Successful
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Launch Window
July 30, 2024, 10:45 a.m. - July 30, 2024, 3:45 p.m.
July 30, 2024, 10:45 a.m. - July 30, 2024, 3:45 p.m.
The spacecraft is encapsulated in a 17-ft (5-m) diameter short payload fairing produced in the advanced Out-of-Autoclave manufacturing process. The 5-m PLF is a sandwich composite structure made with a vented aluminum-honeycomb core and graphite-epoxy face sheets. The bisector (two-piece shell) PLF ...
Classified payload for the US Space Force.
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Launch success.
Liftoff.
Official Webcast by United Launch Alliance has started
Updated launch weather.
Weather 80% GO
Atlas V is an expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. It was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin and is now operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture with Boeing. Each Atlas V rocket uses a Russian-built RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an American-built RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage. The RD-180 engines are provided by RD Amross, while Aerojet Rocketdyne provides both the RL10 engines and the strap-on boosters used in some configurations. The standard payload fairing sizes are 4 or 5 meters in diameter and of various lengths. Fairings sizes as large as 7.2 m in diameter and up to 32.3 m in length have been considered. The rocket is assembled in Decatur, Alabama and Harlingen, Texas.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.
INFO WIKI
Photographers Scrub Launch Coverage Due To New ULA Policy That Restricts Use of Launch Photo
United Launch Alliance, formed in 2006 to merge the Boeing and Lockheed Martin launch vehicle programs, has flown 100 national security missions over the last 18 years using the Delta II, Delta IV, and Atlas V rocket families. USSF-51 was …
The rocket lifted off July 30 at 6:45 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The United States Space Force 51 (USSF-51) mission was the 58th and final time an Atlas 5 rocket launches a national security payload. Liftoff happened at Tuesday, July 30, during a three-hour window that opens at 6:45 a.m. EDT (1045 UTC).
USSF-51 will be the last national security launch for the Atlas 5 as ULA prepares to complete Vulcan’s certification for Space Force missions
Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.
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