These photos show a 194-foot-tall (59-meter) United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket standing on pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in advance of a planned launch with the U.S. Space Force’s fifth SBIRS missile warning satellite.
The Atlas 5 rocket is set for launch during a 40-minute window opening at 1:35 p.m. EDT (1735 GMT) Monday. The Atlas 5 launcher that will deliver the SBIRS GEO 5 spacecraft to orbit will fly in the “421” configuration with a 4-meter and two strap-on solid rocket boosters supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne. A single RL10 engine from Aerojet Rocketdyne will power the Atlas 5’s Centaur upper stage.
The launch will mark the eighth flight of the Atlas 5-421 variant, and the 87th launch of an Atlas 5 rocket since its debut in 2002.
Read our preview story for additional details on the mission.
Email the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.
