ULA’s heavy-lift rocket prepares to launch first Space Force mission

After years of delays, United Launch Alliance is set to launch its first military mission on the new heavy-lift Vulcan rocket next week.

The mission, USSF-106, will send into geostationary-Earth orbit the Navigation Technology Satellite-3, or NTS-3, an experimental navigation satellite built by L3Harris and funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The company, which is moving its heavy-lift work to the Vulcan rocket, was supposed to launch four Space Force missions last year. That number was pared to two and pushed to 2025 , in part due to delays with certifying the rocket after its second flight in October. During that flight, material broke off one of the solid rocket boosters. Vulcan achieved certification in March, joining SpaceX as a provider for the Space Force’s Nationa