America’s longest-serving active rocket is about to retire – and today, it is flying the last national security mission. The payload is classified. USSF-51 is a United States Space Force mission, and liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The rocket is owned by United Launch Alliance and this is their 100th national security mission. Of these, 58 flew on an Atlas V.
The rocket has been launched 100 times, with the last launch being the much-delayed liftoff of Starliner, which took astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station. Starliner and its astronauts are currently stuck there after having experienced some problems en route to the space station.
“The Space Force Atlas V team has an amazing record of serving our National Security Space lift needs,” USSF Col. Jim Horne, senior material leader for SSC’s Launch Execution Delta, said in a statement. “We have always worked extremely well with this team, and this mission, our last launch with the Atlas V, is looking great!”
Today’s flight will be the 101st Atlas V launch. Liftoff is expected at 6:45 a.m. EDT (10:45 GMT). Today also marks the 273rd flight of Centaur. This is the upper stage of the rocket that has been flying since 1963. Many famous missions traveled on Centaur: Mariner and Viking to Mars; the Pioneer probes and the Voyager spacecraft, too. More recently, InSight and Perseverance traveled on it.
There are 15 more commercial and non-defense are planned by the United Launch Alliance for Atlas V after this. The rocket will be replaced by the Vulcan Centaur in the future.
