Cape Canaveral Vulcan rocket set for Space Force mission: 'A game of 10,000 details'

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

United Launch Alliance is preparing to send satellites and a spacecraft into orbit for the U.S. Space Force using its Vulcan rocket, with the next launch scheduled to happen at Cape Canaveral in March.

'A game of 10,000 details'

Dillon Rice, senior launch conductor at United Launch Alliance, stressed the complexity of the operation and the standard the team must meet before it can proceed.

"A rocket launch is a game of 10,000 details, and you do not let the rocket go until all 10,000 details are satisfied," Rice said. "It's critical to make sure you get all the details right so it's successful in the end.”

Rice said the company takes pride in its role in putting national-security payloads into orbit.

"Our team is honored to be trusted with some of the nation's important tools that we launch to orbit," he said.

From calm pad to "one of the most powerful places on Earth.”

The launch pad, now quiet, will soon become what company officials described as one of the most powerful places on Earth, erupting with fire and more than a million pounds of thrust to send the Space Force mission into orbit.

The next ULA Vulcan launch will lift off with the GPS III SV-10 satellite payload for the U.S. government in March. ULA has the launch scheduled for Q1, and still without a date set for February, that only leaves March if the company keeps on schedule.

Ron Fortson, vice president of launch operations at United Launch Alliance, said the satellites headed to orbit carry high stakes.

"Those satellites that are going up into orbit are providing information that really does save lives," Fortson said.

What the Space Force says it protects

Capt. Crystal Salierno said the Space Force's work goes beyond supporting other military branches, including keeping rocket launches safe for Americans and protecting communication tools used every day.

"Whether it be talking on your cellphone, sending messages, providing communication, all of that internet access, all that is being done from a space of protecting," Salierno said. "That is a huge point of just continuing life as an American and life as humans on Earth."

Salierno, who said she took an oath to protect Americans more than 20 years ago, described space as critical infrastructure for daily life and the future.

"No one owns space, securing that," Salierno said. "Just ensuring that space is secure because no one owns space.”

Five years of work before liftoff

The mission has been five years in the making, involving building, testing and perfecting the rocket to get the payload into space.

Rice said the scale of space exploration still feels startling when he looks up at the night sky.

"What I think is the coolest thing is looking up when Mars is in the sky, knowing that we launch rovers to Mars and knowing that they are still out there taking pictures of the red planet, and beaming them back," Rice said. "To me, that blows my mind every time I look in the sky and see Mars."

'A small piece' of the mission

Salierno said she feels pride in being part of the effort.

“It's just an amazing feeling to be part of that and to watch it launch and to know that you just had a small piece of that," she said.

As the flame fades and the sky goes quiet, the mission truly begins, marking what the story describes as a significant moment in space exploration.

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