There were somber moments honoring the deceased whose dedication to the Atlas project made it the success it was today,

that then gave way to ebullient emotions as the Atlas V successfully lifted into the blue.

At 5:46 EST the Atlas V launched the Air Force's Second Orbital Test Vehicle from the Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. This marks the second ULA launch of 2010, and the OTV mission marks the 24th Atlas V launch in program history since their first launch in 2002, and has been launched in an Atlas V 501 configuration. The OTV, also known as the X-37B, supports space experimentation, risk reduction, and concept of operations development for long duration and reusable space vehicle technologies.


Today's launch follows the successful OTV-FLT 1 mission launched on April 22, 2010 that successfully returned to Earth in December after a test flight, though the details of that mission are classified.

"The ULA team is proud to have played a critical role in successfully launching both of these important missions of the Orbital Test Vehicle for the Air Force RCO," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Mission Operations. "It took a tremendous amount of teamwork to successfully launch both vehicles in less than a year. I am confident that the information collected by the Rapid Capabilities Office from these missions will lead to even bigger and bolder missions in the future. Congratulations to the combined Air Force and ULA launch team and our many mission partners that made today's successful launch possible."


This mission was launched aboard an Atlas V 501 vehicle configuration, which includes a 5.4m diameter payload fairing. The booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and the Centaur upper stage was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL-10A engine.

ULA's next launch, currently scheduled for March 11, is a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) aboard a Delta IV rocket from Space Launch Complex-37.

ULA program management, engineering, test, and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Alabama, Harlingen, Texas, San Diego, California, and Denver, Colorado — Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Today's mission in a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch the U.S. military's Second Orbital Test Vehicle, a prototype space plane in which the details of the mission are classified. The X-37B spacecraft was built for the Air Force by Boeing and carries the name Orbital Test Vehicle 2, or OTV-2, and resembles a miniature version of NASA's space shuttles with a blunt noes and stubby wings.

The launch had been delayed a day due to weather and then today an additional delay occurred due to the need for a valve replacement.