Liftoff!

ULA Atlas V DoD STP-3 Launch
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches 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)

We have liftoff! At 5:19 a.m., United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V 551 rocket is on its way to orbit, carrying satellites and technology experiments on the Department of Defense and U.S. Space Force’s Space Test Program 3 mission.