United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket just before liftoff on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 41 in Florida on Aug. 12, 2025. Screenshot/United Launch Alliance
The new red-and-white United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket roared into space on its first mission for the U.S. Space Force and the Department of Defense (DOD) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 41 in Florida on Aug. 12.
Dubbed USSF-106, the mission is part of the Space Systems Command’s National Security Space Launch Program. Two national security satellites were sent into geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles above Earth. ULA said it was one of its longest launches ever, taking more than seven hours to put its payload in the correct position.
