A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched the Air Force’s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP-19) payload at 7:46 a.m. PDT today from Space Launch Complex-3. This is the third mission of 15 scheduled for 2014 and the 80th mission since ULA was formed in December 2006.
“Congratulations to the Air Force and all of our mission partners on this morning’s successful launch of DMSP-19! ULA takes tremendous pride in the national capabilities we place on orbit for our customers and in the critical information that satellites such as DMSP provide to military and civilian users worldwide,” said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs. “Achieving on-time launches for our customer’s missions with 100 percent mission success is a testament to this strong government and industry team being singularly focused on one launch at a time.”
This mission was launched aboard an Atlas V 401 configuration vehicle, which includes a 4-meter diameter payload fairing. The Atlas booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine, and the Centaur upper stage was powered by a single Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A-4 engine.
For the past 50 years, the DMSP satellites have fulfilled the military’s most critical requirements for global atmospheric, oceanic, terrestrial and space environment information. Through these satellites, military users find, track and forecast weather systems over remote and hostile areas for deployed troops. Additionally, DMSP supports a broad range of civil users with sensing capabilities not provided by U.S. civil and foreign weather satellite systems.
ULA’s next launch is the Atlas V NROL-67 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), planned for no earlier than April 10 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation’s most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 75 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system. Reliable launch, real-world benefits.
For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321). Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch and twitter.com/ulalaunch.
