Atlas V successfully launched its last ever national...
- by NASASpaceFlight.com
- Jul 29, 2024
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— ULA (@ulalaunch) July 28, 2024
The initial launch weather forecast for this flight was 80 percent favorable for Tuesday as per a ULA posting on X. Closer to the launch, an official forecast was issued by the US Space Force’s 45th Space Weather Squadron based at Patrick Space Force Base next to CCSFS.
After the USSF-51 flight, the Atlas V has 15 more flights scheduled before it is retired later this decade in favor of its successor, the Vulcan. This is the 58th and last national security flight for the Atlas V, and ULA is working on getting the Vulcan certified for national security payloads with its second flight coming as early as September.
Most of the remaining Atlas V flights are to be divided up between Project Kuiper broadband satellites using the Atlas V 551, and Starliner flights using the Atlas V N22. One flight, also using the 551, is earmarked for the ViaSat-3 EMEA communications satellite at the time of writing.
The USSF-51 mission patch and USSF logo on the 5-meter wide short payload fairing during processing. (Credit: ULA)
The USSF-51 mission patch was released with the motto “Alis Grave Nil” which in Latin means “nothing is too heavy for those who have wings.” The patch also contains a winged horse and a bright red star. Many patches for Space Force missions have symbolism related in some way to the mission.
Out of the 58 national security launches that were conducted for the Atlas V family, 53 of these have been conducted as part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) procurement since 2007. USSF-51 mission director Dr. Walt Lauderdale stated “this NSSL partnership is a prime example demonstrating our resiliency and capacity to support national security objectives in a time of evolving Great Power competition.”
ULA is one of three companies, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, that have qualified to compete for launches under the upcoming NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 procurement, with at least 30 missions being flown to low-Earth orbit for the USSF and the National Reconnaissance Office. The company is also flying additional missions starting in 2025 under the NSSL Phase 2 procurement which was awarded in 2020 to ULA and SpaceX.
The USSF-51 core stage is being loaded into the VIF during processing. The core and Centaur upper stages are transported from the ULA Decatur, Alabama factory to the launch site. (Credit: ULA)
The NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 procurement, involving more challenging missions to different orbits, is to be announced at a later date. The Vulcan is designed to fly the full range of missions that had been done by the Atlas V and Delta IV families, including missions that only the Delta IV Heavy could previously fly, while SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and Blue Origin’s New Glenn can also fly heavier payloads than any Atlas V could.
The Atlas V’s reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines became problematic after the Russian invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. ULA contracted with Blue Origin to build the BE-4 engine, using liquid natural gas and liquid oxygen as propellants, as a US-built replacement for the RD-180, and it is this engine that now powers the Vulcan rocket.
The Atlas V is a very distant descendant of the SM-65 Atlas ICBM developed for the USAF. This Atlas stands in front of the Strategic Air Command Museum in Nebraska. (Credit: Justin Davenport for NSF)
While the Atlas V flies out its remaining manifest, the Atlas family’s legacy extends to the earliest days of the Space Age. Atlas family rockets have flown 683 reported times since 1957, with Convair building the first SM-65 Atlas intercontinental ballistic missiles in a plant in San Diego, California in that timeframe. USSF-51’s flight has closed out a long history of rockets with the Atlas name flying or standing alert for national security purposes.
(Lead image: The Atlas V 551 stands on Pad 41 for the USSF-51 launch. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
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