56 Launches Completed In 60 Months
After being formed five years ago by bringing together two
experienced launch teams and two highly reliable launch systems,
Atlas and Delta, United Launch Alliance has compiled a record of 56
successful launches in just 60 months. In total, ULA has launched
30 national security missions, 17 NASA missions and nine commercial
missions.
ULA Atlas V
"We're very proud of the record ULA team has amassed over the
past five years," said ULA President and CEO Michael Gass. "Just
this year, ULA has launched 11 missions with nearly 20 billion
dollars of critical, irreplaceable assets, all of which were safely
delivered to orbit. Most recently, we launched five science
missions for NASA in six months."
The evidence of ULA's success is literally on orbit. Every
Global Positioning System satellite, every missile warning
satellite, nearly every intelligence collection satellite, weather
satellite and military communications satellite, as well as nearly
every major NASA science mission—from Mercury to
Pluto—has been launched successfully on a ULA or ULA heritage
launch vehicle. "We're very proud of what we're doing for the
nation," stated Gass.
Since its formation five years ago, ULA has made significant
progress in reducing the size of the company and making it more
efficient. Compared to the heritage systems, Atlas, Delta and Titan
IV, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) systems have
reduced costs by greater than 25 percent. ULA also has consolidated
from five major manufacturing sites down to two sites, as well as
reduced our footprint and our employment levels by more than 20
percent from the pre-consolidation point while increasing output at
the same time.
Next year holds another busy manifest, with 11 launches
scheduled at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. In addition to the
satellite market, ULA is continuing its role in commercial human
spaceflight and progress in human-rating the Atlas V vehicle to
launch crews to the International Space Station. "The Atlas V
vehicle is the lowest risk approach to developing a commercial crew
capability over the next several years," Gass said. "Atlas V
is the launch vehicle of choice of three of four Commercial Crew
Development (CCDEV) teams, including Boeing, Blue Origin and Sierra
Nevada."
"We are honored to serve our customer and our country," said
Gass. "We will continue to provide innovative, cost-effective,
reliable missions for our customers and are laser-focused on
providing mission success – one launch at a time."