Atlas V Pierces into Vandenberg Fog on first West Coast Interplanetary Mission

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket (AV-078) launched from Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 11:05 UTC on May 5, 2018 with NASA’s InSight Mars Lander and two MarCO CubeSats

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Muscly Atlas V Rumbles off from Florida on Direct Geostationary Delivery with CBAS & EAGLE

The most powerful version of ULA’s Atlas V rocket – sporting five Solid Rocket Boosters for maximum thrust off the pad – soared into sunset on Saturday after blasting off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral with a pair of U.S. Air Force Satellites.

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Photos: Strongest Atlas V Rocket Races into Clear Afternoon Skies on U.S. Air Force Mission

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 23:13:00 UTC on April 14, 2018 with the Air Force Space Command 11 mission comprising the CBAS military communications satellite and EAGLE experimental platform.

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Videos: Atlas V / AFSPC-11 Launch

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 23:13:00 UTC on April 14, 2018 with the Air Force Space Command 11 mission comprising the CBAS military communications satellite and EAGLE experimental platform.

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Five-Booster Atlas V Rolls out for Direct-to-GEO Launch with CBAS & EAGLE

The most powerful version of ULA’s Atlas V rocket rolled to its Florida launch pad on Friday to set the stage for liftoff in the early evening on Saturday on a direct climb into Geostationary Orbit to dispatch a pair of payloads for the United States Air Force.

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Next-Generation Weather Sentinel Rides to Orbit atop Atlas V Powerhouse

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket pierced into the afternoon clouds over Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Thursday, carrying into orbit a critical U.S. weather satellite set to join a sister spacecraft launched one and a half years ago to complete NOAA’s high-orbiting constellation of next-generation weather sentinels.

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Atlas V to Add Second Next-Generation Satellite to U.S. GOES Weather Constellation

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolled to its Cape Canaveral launch pad on Wednesday in preparation for liftoff Thursday afternoon with the second in the next-generation of U.S. Geostationary Weather Satellites to complete the operational constellation with two sharply-eyed weather assets watching over the Western Hemisphere from their high-altitude perch.

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Single-Booster Atlas V Fires into the Night with Final Building Block of U.S. Missile Warning System

The final building block in a critical global missile warning system operated by the Pentagon took flight on Friday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket blasting off into the night over Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

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Photos: Asymmetrical Atlas V Blazes into the Night with SBIRS GEO-4

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket, flying with a single Solid Rocket Booster, lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 0:48 UTC on January 20, 2018 with the fourth satellite of the Space Based Infrared System

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Atlas V Rocket Poised for Nighttime Liftoff with Fourth SBIRS Missile Warning Satellite

A ULA Atlas V rocket rolled to its Cape Canaveral Launch Pad on Wednesday in preparation for a thunderous nighttime liftoff on Thursday to lift the fourth SBIRS missile-warning satellite into orbit to complete a constellation capable of spotting anything from tactical missiles to tracking the path of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

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Classified NROL-47 Found in Orbit by Satellite Trackers, Identity Confirmed as Topaz 5

The classified NROL-47 satellite launched by a Delta IV rocket on Friday had barely made its first lap around Earth when its identity as a radar reconnaissance satellite was revealed by amateur satellite trackers listening to the spacecraft’s radio transmissions, found to be in family with predecessor missions of the same kind.

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Delta IV Rocket Blasts Off from California with U.S. Spy Satellite

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket thundered off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base on Friday on classified government business, lifting the secret NROL-47 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office to replenish the U.S. spy satellite fleet.

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2017 Space Launch Statistics

The year 2017 saw a total of 90 known orbital launch attempts from seven nations and space ports in eight different countries. 2017 had the second most orbital launch attempts of any year in the current century, short of 92 launches in 2014 and showing a slight increase from 2016 that had 85 known launch attempts.

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