The USSF-87 will be the second national security flight for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket and the fourth flight of this type of rocket to date. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 3:30 a.m. EST (0830 UTC).
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 3:28 a.m. EST (0828 UTC), as the RD-180 engine on the booster roared to lift alongside five solid rocket boosters.
Rocketing through gloomy skies with a payload clouded in a veil of secrecy, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday to deploy a satellite thousands of miles above Earth.