WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to launch its final Atlas 5 rocket for the U.S. military on July 30.
The classified payload, designated USSF-51, is scheduled to lift off at 6:45 a.m. Eastern Time from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, bound for geostationary Earth orbit.
This mission will be ULA’s 100th national security launch and the 53rd for Atlas 5.
USSF-51 also represents ULA’s first launch under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 contract, awarded by the Space Force to ULA and SpaceX in 2020. While SpaceX launched its first Phase 2 mission in January 2023, ULA’s schedule has been disrupted by development issues with its next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Designed to replace the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, the Vulcan Centaur promises increased performance and flexibility for a wide range of missions. However, its development has hit snags, pushing back its initial launch to January 2024 and delaying its certification for national security missions.
Originally, the USSF-51 was scheduled to fly to Vulcan as part of the Phase 2 contract, but the mission was reassigned to the proven Atlas 5.
“Because of the criticality of the spacecraft we are commissioning, we have elected to transition it from Vulcan to Atlas for greater schedule certainty,” said Gary Wentz, ULA’s vice president of government and commercial programs. Space News.
Although the Atlas 5 is bidding farewell to the NSSL program, its career is far from over. ULA plans 16 more commercial and non-military missions, including crewed launches, using the remaining Atlas rockets in its inventory.
As ULA works toward Vulcan certification, two NSSL missions are already in various stages of preparation for launches of the new rocket, tentatively scheduled for late 2024, pending the completion of a second Vulcan certification launch scheduled for September.
Transition to Vulcan
Gary Wentz, ULA’s vice president of government and commercial programs, spoke about the planned transition of Atlas 5 to the Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Wentz acknowledged the Space Force’s concerns about Vulcan’s readiness and ULA’s ability to meet the demanding launch schedule required by the Phase 2 contract. “We understand the challenges ahead,” Wentz said, as ULA must complete 26 national security launches from the company’s launch pads on the East and West coasts by the end of fiscal 2027.
To meet national security and commercial needs, ULA plans to increase its launch cadence to twice a month. Wentz explained, “We are upgrading Space Launch Complex 41 to support both Atlas and Vulcan operations,” he said. That dual capability is critical for the transition period, he said.
The company’s strategy is to intersperse the remaining Atlas 5 launches with the new Vulcan missions. “We have 16 Atlases left to launch, and those will be interspersed with the Vulcan flights,” Wentz said. “Our systems are designed to accommodate that flexibility.”
The remaining Atlas 5 rockets are intended to launch satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper Broadband constellation and NASA crew missions to the International Space Station.
Wentz identified USSF-106 and USSF-87 as Vulcan’s first two national security missions. “Over the next two years, we’re going to catch up on the East and West coasts for the Phase 2 missions that we’ve been assigned,” he added.
To facilitate this transition, ULA has reconfigured its launch complex with a dual-track system. Wentz explained, “This allows us to assemble the Atlas and Vulcan rockets in parallel, sharing the same launch pad. With this configuration, we will be able to launch rockets every five to six days as needed.”
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