![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250807_USSF-106_VIF.jpeg\")
United Launch Alliance (ULA) hoists the USSF-106 mission payload atop the Vulcan rocket in the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be Vulcan\u2019s first national security mission for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC). Image: United Launch Alliance<\/p>\n
United Launch Alliance is on the cusp of a significant milestone for its Vulcan rocket. The 202-foot-tall (61 m) launch vehicle is poised to take flight on its first national security mission as soon as Tuesday, August 12.<\/p>\n
Atop the two-stage rocket are a pair of missions for that are part of the U.S. Space Force\u2019s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. The launch will be the first post-certification flight for a Vulcan rocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a pretty important event for the company and for the capability, but also for all of us personally. This is the inaugural launch of Vulcan into national security space. It is what we designed this rocket to do,\u201d said ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno during an audio roundtable with reports on Aug. 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis particular mission is interesting to us because while, if you were picking, you might choose to start with a more plain vanilla mission, this is, in fact, the anchor case that drove the design and the architecture of the whole rocket,\u201d Bruno added. \u201cThis is the tough mission, directly injected to GSO, geosynchronous orbit. It makes it one of our longest duration missions ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
ULA hoped to launch this mission, dubbed United States Space Force (USSF)-106, much earlier than now, but it faced setbacks, partly due to a solid rocket motor (SRM) anomaly during the second of two certification flights in 2024, partly due to that second certification mission being delayed by lack of readiness for Sierra Space\u2019s Dream Chaser spaceplane and also due to delays with the USSF-106 payloads.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250807_USSF-106_stacking.jpeg\")
United Launch Alliance (ULA) hoists the USSF-106 mission payload atop the Vulcan rocket in the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be Vulcan\u2019s first national security mission for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC). Image: United Launch Alliance<\/p>\n
The military satellites encapsulated inside Vulcan\u2019s payload fairing were delivered to the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) at Space Launch Complex 41 near the end of July to complete the rocket stack. In the coming days, it will be rolled out to the launch pad for final, prelaunch preparations.<\/p>\n
USSF-106 is the first of nine planned missions that Bruno said ULA aims to achieve before the end of the year. These will be a mix of commercial and government customers with some of the former flying on Atlas 5 rockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a stockpile of both Atlases and Vulcans fully built, ready to fly. So that is another thing that sort of kicks up that confidence higher than it would\u2019ve been, say, if you\u2019d asked me a question like that last year,\u201d Bruno said in response to a reporter question about his confidence in flying nine more times in 2025. \u201cThere are 13 Atlases to go. All but the last two are fully finished and literally in storage, some at the Cape, some still back at Decatur, and those last two will be finished shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remaining Atlas 5 rockets are allocated as follows (not in order of planned launch):<\/p>\n
ULA\u2019s goal is to achieve a cadence of two launches per month by the end of the year and then extend that out to 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got almost half a dozen Vulcans fabricated in storage, waiting to go as well and lots and lots of SRMs, up into the 40s,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cSo that helps us with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250326_Vulcans_Cape_small.jpeg\")
A trio of United Launch Alliance Vulcan boosters in storage at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Tory Bruno\/ULA
\nEnter NSSL missions<\/p>\n
The forthcoming launch of USSF-106 is the first of a slate of 26 missions awarded to ULA as part of the NSSL Phase 2 contract worth $4.5 billion. Once upon a time, USSF-51 would\u2019ve been the first NSSL launch on a Vulcan rocket, but that mission was moved to an Atlas 5 that flew from SLC-41 on July 30, 2024.<\/p>\n
Bruno previously said that its 2025 manifest, following a pair of Atlas 5 launches for Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper broadband internet constellation, would see the flights of USSF-106 and then USSF-87. On Thursday though, he suggested that there may be some other flights in-between.<\/p>\n
\u201c[USSF-87] is the very next Space Force mission and, depending on when it happens, there may or may not be Atlases in between, flying for commercial customers,\u201d Bruno said. Those would either be Amazon or Viasat, since NASA leaders previously said the next launch of Starliner won\u2019t come until at least early 2026.<\/p>\n
\nMajor General Purdy, thanks for dropping by the Cape last week! Means a lot to our folks. We are very excited to bring Vulcan into service. pic.twitter.com\/BMzapGsxjc<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Tory Bruno (@torybruno) July 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Bruno and ULA have long-since marketed the Vulcan rocket as a prime candidate for the Department of Defense and other government customers, given its ability to fly to \u201cexotic orbits that are primarily for the government.\u201d He pointed to the \u201cvery, very long-duration mission\u201d of USSF-106 as a prime example.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t do that mission in less than about seven hours, including the disposal activities, and they often run longer than that,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cI can\u2019t say the duration of this one yet because the customer, I don\u2019t believe, has released that, but it\u2019s not uncommon for a mission like that. Seven, eight hours and you want to take a lot of mass to that very difficult orbit that requires burns at the end of that duration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruno argued that a Vulcan rocket, with its single core booster, was designed to deliver its Centaur upper stage further into space with its propellant still at full capacity to allow for missions with those long coasts and multiple burns. He said at that point, it\u2019s prudent to have as light of a vehicle as possible, which Bruno argues made the case for using a combination of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you design a rocket, you\u2019re going to pick the orbit you want to be most efficient for and it will drive your architecture. This literally is that mission,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cOur very first mission will be that bounding case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Future growth \u2013 promises and perils<\/p>\n
The next few years will be mostly driven by launches of ULA\u2019s Vulcan rocket. Amazon will fairly quickly move through its available Atlas 5 rocket launches to get its Kuiper constellation on orbit as soon as possible and Viasat will be launching its satellite to a geostationary Earth orbit soon too.<\/p>\n
That leaves just Boeing and Starliner, which will be driven by a combination of NASA\u2019s confidence to fly it again with crew on board and the manifest of the International Space Station in its final five years of life.<\/p>\n
Bruno said ULA is about 76 percent through building out Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to accommodate Vulcan rocket launches. He said getting that finished has been \u201ca little bit of a battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFor the VSFB SLC3 fans: 76% complete! Expect to be able to certify b4 year end. Been a journey\u2026 Industry wide shortage of Trades people, critical parts, and equipment. Battled through all of that and over the hump. Whew! pic.twitter.com\/QEixktwdd6<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250807_Starship_LC-39A_impacts.jpg\")
A map illustrating the proposed potential impacts of SpaceX\u2019s Starship-Super Heavy rocket during testing and launches from Launch Complex 39A. Graphic: Federal Aviation Administration<\/p>\n