ULA Vulcan rocket achieves liftoff in national security launch
The rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 8:56 p.m. EDT Tuesday. It's the third launch ever of the company's Vulcan rockets and the first time it was used for a national security mission, referred to as United States Space Force (USSF)-106, reported Spaceflight Now.
"This is literally the mission that drove the design of the Vulcan," Tory Bruno, president and CEO of ULA, said during the company's livestream leading up to the launch.
The video showed the rocket lifting off and its bright glare cutting through the Florida night sky.
The mission centers on the Vulcan delivering classified payloads as well as a Navigation Technology Satellite-3 system into orbit. The NTS-3 is operated by Air Force Research Laboratory and will be used to shield GPS technology and critical infrastructure from the deliberate jamming of signals.
ULA said in an X post earlier that it would deploy its mission at geosynchronous orbit, which is more than 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface and more closely aligns with its rotation.
The Vulcan's launch means an end to the Unite States' reliance on Russian-made rockets as mandated by Congress as well as additional capabilities for Space Force, according to a press release. The launch is the first integrated navigation satellite experiment in nearly 50 years.
During a media call Monday, Col. Jim Horne, U.S. Space Force mission director, called the launch "a historic point in our program history," reported Signal, a publication of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
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