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Breaking News
  • [ December 21, 2025 ] Astronauts, launch teams practice Artemis 2 countdown Artemis
  • [ December 20, 2025 ] Space Development Agency awards roughly $3.5 billion to 4 companies for 72 missile tracking and warning satellites News
  • [ December 18, 2025 ] Rocket Lab launches 4 novel DiskSat satellites for U.S. Space Force, NASA Electron
  • [ December 18, 2025 ] Senate confirms Jared Isaacman as 15th NASA Administrator News
  • [ December 17, 2025 ] SpaceX flies Starlink mission using Falcon 9 booster flying for a 30th time Falcon 9

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket soars from West Coast

October 8, 2015 Justin Ray

A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight carrying the NROL-55 cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance

Launch of NROL-55, Vandenberg AFB, October8, 2015

Launch of NROL-55, Vandenberg AFB, October8, 2015

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Launch of NROL-55, Vandenberg AFB, October8, 2015

Launch of NROL-55, Vandenberg AFB, October8, 2015

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See earlier NROL-55 coverage.

Our Atlas archive.

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Related Articles

Atlas 5

Videos: Atlas 5 launch replays from OA-7 Cygnus mission

April 21, 2017 Justin Ray

Isolated camera views from various locations around Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center show the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifting off Tuesday with the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter bound for the International Space Station.

Delta 4

Delta 4 rocket launches Air Force’s 10th WGS broadband satellite

March 16, 2019 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance placed a new satellite in orbit with a fiery Friday night blastoff from Cape Canaveral, using a version of the Delta 4 rocket that is nearing retirement to supplement a U.S. military network relaying signals from drones and battlefield commanders.

Falcon 9

Space Force announces new nicknames for GPS satellites

October 2, 2020 Stephen Clark

The Space Force says it changed the nickname of a GPS navigation satellite launched in June from Columbus to instead honor Matthew Henson, a Black explorer on the first expedition to the North Pole more than a century ago, “to acknowledge a fuller history of courageous explorers and pioneers.” The military’s next GPS navigation satellite, set for launch Friday night, is nicknamed Sacagawea.

News Headlines

  • Astronauts, launch teams practice Artemis 2 countdown
    December 21, 2025
  • Space Development Agency awards roughly $3.5 billion to 4 companies for 72 missile tracking and warning satellites
    December 20, 2025
  • Rocket Lab launches 4 novel DiskSat satellites for U.S. Space Force, NASA
    December 18, 2025
  • Senate confirms Jared Isaacman as 15th NASA Administrator
    December 18, 2025
  • SpaceX flies Starlink mission using Falcon 9 booster flying for a 30th time
    December 17, 2025
  • SpaceX launches Wednesday morning Starlink mission from Kennedy Space Center
    December 16, 2025
  • Rocket Lab Electron rocket aborts liftoff at engine ignition
    December 15, 2025
  • ULA Atlas 5 launch puts Amazon’s 180th broadband satellite in low Earth orbit
    December 15, 2025
  • Falcon 9 launch of 29 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center delayed to Wednesday
    December 14, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 100th Falcon 9 rocket from Florida in 2025
    December 14, 2025
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