Tag: Atlas 5

ULA Launches Atlas 5 On Its 100th National Security Mission

Spaceflight Now reports, “United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket marked its swan song when it comes to launching critical missions connected to U.S. national security. A launch at dawn sent up a classified payload as part of the United States Space Force-51 (USSF-51) mission, marking the 100th such operation for ULA. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) happened Tuesday, July 30, 6:45 a.m. EDT (1045 UTC).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on Falcon 9 rocket
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

ULA’s Atlas V Launches from Cape Canaveral

Spaceflight Now reports that a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket successfully launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:36 p.m. ET, “on a delivery mission for the commercial telecom satellite operator SES.”   The mission is noteworthy as it marked “the first commercial Atlas 5 launch into geosynchronous orbit.” More than six hours after liftoff, the rocket’s Centaur upper stage deployed the SES 20 and 21 satellites, which are set “to begin 15-year missions beaming C-band television and raido programming across the United States.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

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ULA’s live broadcast of its Atlas V SES-20/21 mission launch.
(ULA; YouTube)

ULA Atlas 5 Rocket Launches NRO Satellite

Space News reported, “A National Reconnaissance Office satellite flew to orbit Nov. 13 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.” The launch took place “at 5:32 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.”
Full Story (Space News)

ULA’s Atlas 5 Launches Two Space Force Satellites to Test Early Warning Technology

CBS News reported that “after waiting out cloudy weather, the U.S. Space Force launched two satellites atop an Atlas 5 rocket Friday to test ballistic and hypersonic missile early warning and tracking technology and to deploy a maneuverable spacecraft carrying an unknown number of classified payloads.” United Launch Alliance’s 196-foot-tall rocket lifted off at 7:15 p.m. EDT from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, “knifing through low clouds and quickly disappearing from view as it streaked away to the east over the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven minutes later, the Aerojet Rocketdyne engine powering the rocket’s second stage completed the first of three planned firings designed to put the two satellites in a circular orbit 22,300 miles above the equator.” According to CBS News, the “trip was expected to take about six hours, ending early Saturday with the satellites’ deployment from the Centaur second stage.”
Full Story (CBS News)
 
 
 

 

 Video

Atlas 5 rocket launch with U.S. Space Force experimental satellites, July 1, 2022
(Spaceflight Now via YouTube)