ULA launches Vulcan rocket on first Space Force mission

Source: Spaceflight Now

ULA launches Vulcan rocket on first Space Force mission

August 13, 2025 William Harwood


United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket roared off the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 to begin the USSF-106 mission for the U.S. Space Force. This was the first national security launch using a Vulcan rocket and the 101st national security mission for ULA. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
United Launch Alliance fired off it’s first fully operational Vulcan rocket Tuesday, boosting two military satellites into space in the first Space Force-sanctioned flight of a new launcher that eventually will replace the company’s Atlas 5 and already-retired Deltas.

Equipped with four solid-fuel strap-on boosters for additional takeoff power, the 198-foot-tall Vulcan’s two methane-fueled BE-4 engines thundered to life at 8:56p.m. EDT, instantly propelling the rocket away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Arcing over the Atlantic Ocean on an easterly trajectory, the Vulcan put on a spectacular sky-lighting show as it roared aloft atop nearly 3 million pounds of thrust and a jet of brilliant exhaust visible for scores of miles around.

The four strap-on boosters were jettisoned about 90 seconds after liftoff, followed three-and-a-half minutes later by burnout and separation of the Vulcan’s 109-fioot-tall first stage.


The four solid rocket boosters that helped augment the power of the BE-4 engines on the Vulcan booster were jettisoned less than five minutes into the launch of the USSF-106 mission on Aug. 12, 2025. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

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