Days
Hours
Mins
Secs
United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.
The Van Allen Probes will study the Van Allen Radiation Belts that surround Earth.
Height 58.30 Meters
Max Stages 2
Mass To GTO 4950 kg
Liftoff Thrust 3827 kN
Diameter 3.80 Meters
Mass To LEO 9050 kg
Liftoff Mass 590 Tonnes
Launch Success 41
Consecutive Success 41
Maiden Flight 2002-08-21
Launch Failures 0
NASA's large strategic science missions or large strategic missions, formerly known as Flagship missions or Flagship-class missions, are the costliest and most capable NASA science spacecraft. Flagship missions exist within all four divisions of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD): the astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics and planetary science divisions.