ULA Atlas V rocket lifts off on national security mission from Cape Canaveral

The 196-foot-tall Atlas V rocket bolted off Launch Complex 41 right on time Tuesday, lighting up the morning sky over Cape Canaveral. This rare launch marked not only the 100th national security mission for United Launch Alliance ? but was the 58th and final time an Atlas V will have lifted a national security payload to space.

The mission is known as USSF-51, and carried a top secret payload for the US Space Force.

Boosted by five solid rocket boosters at liftoff, the Atlas V launch speeds away causing only a brief spectacle. A minute after liftoff, all that could be seen was the rocket's trail, as the payload was well on the way to its orbital destination.

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As the mission is for national security, there are no details on the payload or its exact destination.

While it may have been the final national security launch for the Atlas V, it will not be the last for this rocket. Slated for retirement, the Atlas V has more launches coming before ULA's new Vulcan rocket takes over. Some of the remaining Atlas V launches are reserved to carry Starliner crewed flights for NASA beginning as soon as late next year ? pending the completion of the current crewed flight test. The Boeing Starliner and its crew remain on the International Space Station.

When is the next Cape Canaveral launch?

The next launch the Space Coast will see is a SpaceX Starlink launch, which is set for no earlier than 12:19 a.m. EDT on Friday, August 2. The Falcon 9 rocket will carry SpaceX's next group of Starlink satellites as part of its ever-growing internet satellite constellation.

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Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Sunrise launch: ULA Atlas V rocket delivers payload for Space Force