The Vulcan rocket checks off several important boxes for the Space Force. First, it relies entirely on US-made rocket engines. The Atlas V rocket it is replacing uses Russian-built main engines, and given the chilled relations between the two powers, US officials have long desired to stop using Russian engines to power the Pentagon’s satellites into orbit. Second, ULA says …
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Rocket Launch: Vulcan USSF-106 – YouTube Watch On United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch its most powerful Vulcan rocket yet today (Aug. 12), and you can watch the liftoff live. ULA will launch an experimental navigation satellite on behalf of the U.S. military during a one-hour launch window that opens at 7:59 p.m. ET (2359 GMT) on Tuesday (Aug. 12). …
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A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the launch of the USSF-106 mission. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now More than four months after it was certified to fly national security payloads for the United States government, United Launch Alliance is on the cusp of launching just such a …
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File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch a Starlink mission. Image: SpaceX Update 10:15 a.m. EDT: SpaceX put this launch on hold for now. This story will be updated once the launch has been rescheduled. SpaceX is gearing up for its first Falcon 9 rocket launch from the West Coast in nine days with a mission to deliver …
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United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket is scheduled to fly its first military space launch next week. Pending range approval, the mission is slated to lift off Aug. 12 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying Space Force satellites destined for geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth. The milestone is a long time coming for ULA, the Defense …
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SpaceX will launch its 100th mission of the year today (Aug. 7), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today, during a 27-minute window that opens at 10:01 a.m. EDT (1401 GMT). SpaceX will stream …
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SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairings, containing 24 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites, rolls out of Amazon’s payload processing facility at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility on Monday, Aug. 5, 2025. The satellites will launch on the KF-02 mission, the second Falcon 9 flight carrying these broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. Image: Amazon Amazon is back at the launch …
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United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) new Vulcan Centaur rocket will conduct its first-ever national security launch next week, if all goes according to plan. ULA announced on Tuesday (Aug. 5) that it’s targeting Aug. 12 for USSF-106, a U.S. Space Force mission that will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. “This is the first national security space …
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A picturesque Scottish peninsula immortalized in a hit Paul McCartney song from the 1970s will host a new U.K. rocket development hub as the country works toward its goal of becoming a major player in European space launch. The Mull of Kintyre peninsula in southwestern Scotland once offered refuge to the famous ex-Beatle, who lived there on a farm in …
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SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida early this morning (Aug. 4). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 3:57 a.m. EDT (0757 GMT). It was SpaceX’s 96th Falcon 9 launch of the year already. The rocket’s first stage came back to Earth …
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