Space News by Sandra Erwin — May 20, 2021
The mission known as USSF-51 was switched from Vulcan to Atlas 5 at ULA's requestWhat would have been the first national security mission for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket will be flown by Atlas 5, the company confirmed May 19.
That mission, known as USSF-51, was awarded to ULA in August 2020 and is scheduled to launch in late 2022. The company had bid its newly developed Vulcan to fly that mission but the vehicle is not going to be ready on time. As a result, the Space Force agreed to allow ULA to launch USSF-51 on the company’s legacy vehicle the Atlas 5.
ULA on Aug. 7 received a $337 million contract to launch USSF-51 and USSF-106, scheduled for late 2022 and mid 2023, respectively. The Space Force on that day announced that ULA and SpaceX were selected to launch military and intelligence agency satellites in a five-year deal known as National Security Space Launch Phase 2.
ULA’s Vulcan won 60% of the Phase 2 missions, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy won 40%.
The Phase 2 contract allows providers to offer a secondary launch vehicle for missions awarded in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. ULA exercised that option for USSF-51, a classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.
More:
https://spacenews.com/with-ulas-new-rocket-vulcan-behind-schedule-space-force-agrees-to-let-atlas-5-fill-in/
