A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, on behalf of the NASA Launch Services Program, successfully launched the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (ATRR) mission for the United States Missile Defense Agency at 1:24 p.m., PDT. on May 5th.

The Missile Defense Agency's STSS Advanced Technology Risk Reduction satellite serves as a technology pathfinder for the STSS mission - a space-based sensor component of the layered Ballistic Missile Defense System. Launched from Space Launch Complex 2, the ULA Delta II 7920-10c configuration vehicle featured a ULA first stage booster powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and nine Alliant Techsystems strap-on solid rocket boosters. An Aerojet AJ10-118K engine powered the second stage. The payload was encased by a 10-foot-diameter composite payload fairing. ULA technicians, engineers, and management worked for more than two years to prepare the vehicle for the STSS ATRR mission.

ULA’s next launch is the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, set to launch June 2 aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida.