Photo: Charles Boyer ./ Talk of Titusville
United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched its Vulcan-Centaur rocket from LC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying the the USSF‑106 mission Tuesday night. Liftoff was at 8:56 PM ET, close to the end of the launch window and into partly cloudy skies, as the usual summer storms were mostly west of the Cape and far away enough to present no problem for the launch team.
This was Vulcan-Centaur’s first operational mission and the first national security payload to utilize its services, a milestone ULA has been working toward since 2014. ULA has faced scrutiny over Vulcan, with military officials calling for more reliability and accountability as the company shifts gearsto its new fleet. There are no more Delta-family launches left, and a dwindling number of Atlas-V launches, most of which are planned for Amazon’s Kuiper Project as well as the Boeing Starliner program.
The DoD awarded ULA a multibillion‑dollar contract in April 2025, securing 19 missions through 2034 under the NSSL Phase 2 procurement. Having completed its certification for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions, Vulcan-Centaur and ULA join SpaceX as one of only two providers cleared to carry critical U.S. military and intelligence assets.
“National security begins at liftoff,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs. “Vulcan did exactly what it was built to do: deliver a critical mission with power, precision and confidence. We are proud to play a role in strengthening the nation’s space capabilities.”
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Two methane‑fueled Blue Origin BE‑4 engines power Vulcan Centaur’s core stage, and for this mission, it was equipped with four Northrop Grumman GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters. Two L3 Harris Rocketdyne RL‑10 engines power the second stage, making Vulcan-Centaur a powerful workhorse for the company as it moves into the future.
Payload
The centerpiece of USSF‑106 is the Navigation Technology Satellite‑3 (NTS‑3) a pioneering PNT (position, navigation, and timing) satellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. It’s the first experimental navigation satellite launched by the U.S. military in nearly half a century—a milestone with huge implications for future secure and adaptive navigation systems.
Also aboard USSF-106 was another undisclosed payload, and requests to the Space Force for any additional information were not granted. That’s the nature of classified payloads, and the fewer questions asked the better.
More information on the satellite can be found in this video:
Next Launch
| Mission | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-20 |
|---|---|
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Location | Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 40 |
| Status | Go for Launch |
| Status Info | Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources. |
| Window Opens | Thursday, 08/14/2025 6:47 AM EDT |
| Window Closes | Thursday, 08/14/2025 10:47 AM EDT |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Mission Description | A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation—SpaceX’s project for a space-based Internet communication system. |
| Information current as of: August 12, 2025 (based on latest verified sources) | |
Launch dates and liftoff times are subject to change at any time.
ULA’s next launch is the third Atlas mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Kuiper 3, which will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. That could occur in 4-6 weeks according to unofficial estimates.