August 4, 2025
Spaceflight Now
  • Home
  • News Archive
  • Launch Schedule
  • Mission Reports
    • Antares Launcher
    • Ariane 5
    • Atlas 5
    • Delta 4
    • Falcon 9
    • Falcon Heavy
    • H-2A
    • Soyuz
    • Space Station
  • Members
    • Sign in
    • Become a member
    • Members Content
  • Live
  • Shop
Breaking News
  • [ August 3, 2025 ] Starlink mission marks SpaceX’s 450th flight-proven Falcon booster launched Falcon 9
  • [ August 1, 2025 ] NASA, SpaceX ‘thread the clouds’ to launch Crew-11 to the International Space Station Falcon 9
  • [ July 31, 2025 ] Launch preview: SpaceX, NASA launches Crew-11 following 1-day weather scrub Falcon 9
  • [ July 29, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
  • [ July 28, 2025 ] SpaceX, NASA conduct static fire test of a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the Crew-11 launch Falcon 9

USSF-106

Mission Reports

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.

Mission Reports

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.

Atlas 5

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.

News

Space Force says first national security Vulcan launch now anticipated in spring 2025

December 18, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The first mission for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket as part of the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract will be USSF-106. ULA began stacking the rocket that will support this mission in October 2024.

Mission Reports

ULA’s Vulcan rocket in “final phase” of certification, awaiting first national security launch date

November 3, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

Vulcan completed the second of two planned certification mission on Oct. 4. ULA began stacking the rocket for the USSF-106 mission on Oct. 21.

Mission Reports

ULA begins stacking Vulcan rocket in anticipation of first national security mission

October 23, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The USSF-106 mission will be the first launch of the Vulcan rocket once it receives certification to support missions on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense. A launch date has not yet been announced for the third Vulcan flight.

Mission Reports

United Launch Alliance nears first fueling test on Vulcan rocket

May 21, 2021 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance could load cryogenic methane and liquid oxygen propellants into a Vulcan rocket test article at Cape Canaveral for the first time in the coming weeks, timing key tests for the next-generation rocket in between flights of Atlas 5 rockets that will share the same launch complex for the next few years.

News

ULA, SpaceX win landmark multibillion-dollar launch agreements with Pentagon

August 7, 2020 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance and SpaceX beat out Northrop Grumman and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for billions of dollars in U.S. military rocket contracts, and will share the load in launching the Pentagon’s highest-priority national security space missions through 2027, officials announced Friday.

News Headlines

  • Starlink mission marks SpaceX’s 450th flight-proven Falcon booster launched
    August 3, 2025
  • NASA, SpaceX ‘thread the clouds’ to launch Crew-11 to the International Space Station
    August 1, 2025
  • Launch preview: SpaceX, NASA launches Crew-11 following 1-day weather scrub
    July 31, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    July 29, 2025
  • SpaceX, NASA conduct static fire test of a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the Crew-11 launch
    July 28, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites into a polar orbit
    July 26, 2025
  • Crew-11 astronauts, cosmonaut arrive in Florida ahead of launch to the space station
    July 26, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    July 25, 2025
  • Amazon says $139.5 million investment in Florida is key to ramping up launch cadence with Project Kuiper
    July 24, 2025
  • NASA probes to study how the solar wind triggers potentially dangerous ‘space weather’
    July 23, 2025
  • Home
  • News Archive
  • Launch Schedule
  • Mission Reports
    • Antares Launcher
    • Ariane 5
    • Atlas 5
    • Delta 4
    • Falcon 9
    • Falcon Heavy
    • H-2A
    • Soyuz
    • Space Station
  • Members
    • Sign in
    • Become a member
    • Members Content
  • Live
  • Shop

© 1999-2025 Spaceflight Now Inc