Waterside view of Delta 4 GPS 2F-6 Launch

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).

The next satellite to launch from Cape Canaveral — an essential communications satellite for the U.S. military and allied nations — was moved to the pad and mounted atop its Delta 4 rocket today.

Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center tasked with overseeing launches of scientific satellites and interplanetary probes will be responsible later this year for ensuring six major missions safely get into space over a span of a little more than six months, beginning with the launch of NOAA’s new GOES-S weather observatory on an Atlas 5 rocket March 1.