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.