Atlas 5 – Page 34 – Spaceflight Now

July 16, 2026

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Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

September 19, 2017 Justin Ray

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket powered away from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California tonight to place a classified surveillance satellite into space for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Follow the ascent in our live journal.

Preview: ULA milestone launch for National Reconnaissance Office set

September 19, 2017 Justin Ray

United Launch Alliance, a union of Atlas and Delta rockets formed a decade ago for U.S. government spacelift needs, will conduct its 25th deployment mission for the country’s spy satellite agency Thursday night.

Photos: NROL-42 payload joins Atlas 5 booster for launch

September 16, 2017 Justin Ray

This photo gallery shows the classified National Reconnaissance Office payload, already encapsulated in the 18-foot-diameter nose cone, being lifted atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas-Centaur rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 3-East pad. This milestone was achieved on Aug. 27.

Fact sheet: Atlas 5 rocket to launch the NROL-42 mission from Vandenberg

September 16, 2017 Justin Ray

This is our comprehensive fact sheet previewing the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket deployment of the classified NROL-42 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Launch operators expect minimal delays from Hurricane Irma

September 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance expect to resume launches with little or no delay after Hurricane Irma veered west of Cape Canaveral last weekend, sparing the launch base from the storm’s most extreme damage.

NASA data relay craft successfully blossoms in space

August 29, 2017 Justin Ray

NASA’s new communications satellite, launched to a preliminary orbit August 18, has ascended to geosynchronous altitude more than 22,000 miles up, deployed its giant antennas and extended twin solar arrays to begin in-space commissioning.

Photos: Atlas sends up new NASA satellite

August 19, 2017 Justin Ray

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, a communications router for the space station and dozens of science spacecraft, blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:29 a.m. EDT on Friday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

Videos: Replays from successful Atlas 5 launch of TDRS-M

August 18, 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 with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M.

Atlas 5 rocket delivers NASA data router into space for astronauts and satellites

August 18, 2017 Justin Ray

Bulking up NASA’s constellation of tracking stations in the sky that provides critical links between orbiting spacecraft and ground control, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully deployed a new communications hub in space today.

Video: TDRS-M takes flight atop Atlas 5

August 18, 2017 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 191 feet tall and and weighing 745,000 pounds, generates 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M.