ULA – Spaceflight Now

ULA begins stacking its 1st Vulcan rocket supporting a national security mission

July 3, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

This is the second time the rocket is being prepared for launch following a months long delay in certifying the launch vehicle. ULA hasn’t announced a specific launch date, but it’s expected sometime this summer.

ULA launches Kuiper 2 mission on Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral

June 22, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The 27 Kuiper satellites will head to low Earth orbit on an Atlas 5 rocket flying in a 551 configuration, using five solid rocket boosters. ULA launched its rocket at 6:54 a.m. EDT (1054 UTC) on Monday, June 23.

Atlas 5 booster engine issue causes scrub of Monday’s Kuiper 2 launch

June 15, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The 27 Kuiper satellites will head to low Earth orbit on an Atlas 5 rocket flying in a 551 configuration, using five solid rocket boosters. ULA has not announced a new launch date following the scrub.

ULA launches first production Amazon Kuiper satellites on Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral

April 28, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The rescheduled mission comes following the April 9 scrub due to poor weather and a period on the Eastern Range marked by a noted lack of orbital launches. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is targeting Monday, April 28, at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 UTC).

Poor weather forces a scrub of the Kuiper 1 launch on a ULA Atlas 5

April 9, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission will be the first deployment of full production Kuiper satellites into low Earth orbit. ULA is determining their next launch opportunity following the scrub Wednesday evening.

SpaceX to launch second accelerated GPS 3 satellite mission in late May

April 8, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

This mission follows a similar model of processing used during the Rapid Response Trailblazer (RRT-1) mission, which saw the launch of the GPS 3 Space Vehicle 07 (SV-07) spacecraft on a Falcon 9 instead of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket as originally planned.

U.S. Space Force awards $13.7 billion in new national security launch contracts to Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA

April 5, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The 54 national security missions will be awarded over the course of five years spanning FY25-FY29. The U.S. Space Force said missions are anticipated to fly from FY27-FY32.

Amazon targets April 9 for launch of 1st production satellites for its Project Kuiper internet mega-constellation

April 3, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission will send the first full batch of 27 operational satellites into low Earth orbit. United Launch Alliance will launch its Atlas 5 551 rocket from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on April 9 during a three-hour window that opens at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 UTC).

U.S. Space Force certifies ULA’s Vulcan rocket to begin launching national security missions

March 27, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The conclusion of certification closes out a process that began in September 2016 and saw the government closely track the development of Vulcan alongside United Launch Alliance. Its first National Security Space Launch mission is targeting liftoff over the summer.

ULA begins de-stacking Vulcan rocket, pivots to Atlas 5 launch of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites for first 2025 mission

February 7, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The change in manifest comes as the U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space continues the certification process for the Vulcan rocket. United Launch Alliance will begin stacking an Atlas rocket in the coming weeks.