MISSION NAME
STP-3 3
Status
Success
DATE
7 DEC 2021
LAUNCH PROVIDER
United Launch Alliance
Launch Pad
Space Launch Complex 41
Description
Rideshare mission with the STPSat-6 satellite and six secondary payloads for the US Air Force. STPSat-6 carries the NNSA's Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 (SABRS-3) payload and NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) experiment.
Atlas V 551
Rocket Description
Atlas V is an expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. It was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin and is now operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture with Boeing. Each Atlas V rocket uses a Russian-built RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an American-built RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage. The RD-180 engines are provided by RD Amross, while Aerojet Rocketdyne provides both the RL10 engines and the strap-on boosters used in some configurations. The standard payload fairing sizes are 4 or 5 meters in diameter and of various lengths. Fairings sizes as large as 7.2 m in diameter and up to 32.3 m in length have been considered. The rocket is assembled in Decatur, Alabama and Harlingen, Texas.