United Launch Alliance (ULA) is an American launch service provider, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. As a launch provider, ULA designs, assembles, sells, and launches rockets like the Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur, providing access to space for national security payloads, commercial satellites, and deep-space exploration missions. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial entities. Key activities involve launch services, rocket development, and partnerships with organizations like NASA and ESA for various space missions.
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United Launch Alliance rolled the Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral back to its Vertical Integration Facility on 2023-05-15.
Before the Centaur test anomaly, United Launch Alliance had been working toward a 2023-05-04 launch window for the Cert-1 mission that was about four days long.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander was scheduled to launch in May 2023 on the first Vulcan Centaur but United Launch Alliance delayed that launch because of an anomaly during testing of a Centaur upper stage in March 2023.
United Launch Alliance has not provided a new target launch date for Vulcan as of 2023-05-11.
United Launch Alliance plans to test fire Vulcan Centaur’s main engines as early as next week from 2023-05-11.
United Launch Alliance plans to resume tanking tests of its Vulcan Centaur rocket as early as next week from 2023-05-11.
The second ViaSat-3 satellite was undergoing final integration and tests at Boeing’s facilities ahead of a planned Atlas V launch by United Launch Alliance in fall 2023.
The U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command stated that USSF-106 launch dates and impacts from the Centaur 5 test anomaly are under review pending the ULA investigation.
NTS-3 is scheduled to launch as a 1,250-kilogram secondary payload on USSF-106, a national security space mission assigned to United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Northrop Grumman planned in 2019 to use SLC-6 to launch its Omega solid rocket for the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 competition and later discontinued the program after losing NSSL Phase 2 contracts to ULA and SpaceX.
SLC-6 was reactivated in the 1990s for a handful of Lockheed Martin Athena launches and was turned over to United Launch Alliance in 2006 for the Delta 4 program.
United Launch Alliance had announced a 2023-05-04 target date for Vulcan’s first launch prior to the 2023-03-29 incident.
The NRO-built SilentBarker satellite is scheduled to launch later 2023 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
United Launch Alliance is contracted to launch 38 missions for Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
Under EELV Phase 1A in 2019 the Air Force awarded three missions to ULA at an average of $147,200,000 per launch and three missions to SpaceX at an average of $99,000,000 per launch.
Amazon signed deals for 83 commercial launches with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and ULA, and Amazon plans to start launching its Project Kuiper satellites in the first half of 2024.
The United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur vehicle must complete two orbital flights before certification for national security launches and the Vulcan program received nearly $1,000,000,000 in Pentagon investment for development.
Under NSSL Phase 2 the Space Systems Command ordered nine missions from ULA for $1,100,000,000 (about $122,000,000 per launch) and six missions from SpaceX for $774,000,000 (about $129,000,000 per launch).
WGS-11 is scheduled to launch in 2024 on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, the National Reconnaissance Office, and United Launch Alliance are preparing to launch a Delta IV Heavy rocket no earlier than 2023-04-20 from Space Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.