First Main Engine Cutoff

Rocket contrails in the sky.
Contrails are seen illuminated in the sky as the Sun begins to rise following the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The first main engine cutoff, or MECO-1, is confirmed for the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket’s  Centaur upper stage. It will coast in this preliminary Earth orbit for the next hour before the second burn begins.

The Atlas launched the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3), which hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder.

To stay updated about LCRD and laser communications, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/lasercomms.