Tomorrow’s launch of a classified US Air Force payload will be the last use of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket for such missions. It will the rocket’s 100th national security launch.
The Atlas rocket, first built in 1957, is America’s longest-serving active rocket. Over the years, the rockets have launched numerous critical government and commercial missions, including NASA missions. For instant, it sent NASA’s Curiosity Rover to Mars. Most recently it sent the Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station (now the Starliner needs to find its own way back).
More Atlas V missions are planned even with the absence of national security missions, but the ULA’s focus is turning towards its new Vulcan rocket, which is still being tested.
The era of the Atlas rocket is quickly coming to a close.
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