Watch Vulcan Centaur rocket launch ‘neighborhood watch’ satellites for the US military early on Feb. 12
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Credit: ULA
A Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch a pair of space surveillance satellites for the U.S. military early Thursday morning (Feb. 12), and you can follow the action live.
THE Vulcan Centaur should take off Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida during a two-hour window that opens at 3:30 a.m. EST (08:30 GMT), kicking off the USSF-87 mission for the US Space Force (USSF).
You can watch it here on Space.com courtesy of United Launch Alliance, which operates the Vulcan Centaur, or directly via ULA. Coverage will begin approximately 20 minutes before launch.
ULA’s second Vulcan Centaur rocket lifts off from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida on October 4, 2024. | Credit: ULA
The main payloads of the USSF-87 are two satellites for the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), an American reconnaissance system.
Six GSSAP spacecraft have reached the final frontier to date – two each in launches in July 2014, August 2016 and January 2022. These satellites, built by Northrop Grumman, operate above Earth, closely monitoring activities in geostationary orbit (GEO).
GEO is 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above Earth. At this altitude, the orbital speed matches the rotation speed of our planet, allowing satellites to continually “fly over” a particular area of land or sea. For this reason, GEO is a popular destination for weather, reconnaissance and communications satellites.
The GSSAP spacecraft functions “as a dedicated sensor for the high-performance space surveillance network,” Space Force officials said in an emailed statement about the USSF-87 mission Monday (Feb. 10). “They provide ‘neighborhood watch’ services in Earth’s geostationary domain, thereby enhancing the flight safety of all spacefaring nations operating in this orbit.”
Better information about satellite position and activities “within the increasingly crowded GEO greatly accelerates the ability of USSF space operators to warn others if another object is predicted to approach too closely or creates a dangerous situation,” they added. “GSSAP data will uniquely contribute to accurate and timely orbital forecasts, thereby improving our knowledge of the GEO environment and further enabling the safety of spaceflight, including satellite flight. collision avoidance“.
USSF-87 also includes research and development payloads, which will contribute to the precision of orbital maneuvers and improve the resiliency of U.S. GEO assets, among other functions, according to the Space Force statement.
USSF-87 will be the fourth mission for the 61-meter-tall Vulcan Centaur, ULA’s replacement for its workhorse. Atlas V rocket.
Vulcan debuted in January 2024sending Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander into the air. The launch went well, but Peregrine suffered an anomaly shortly after deployment and found itself strong return to Earth.
Vulcan Centaur has flown again in October 2024 and August 2025. This last launch was the rocket launch first national security mission; he successfully sent an experimental navigation satellite to GEO for the Space Force.
The August 2025 mission used the most powerful version of the Vulcan Centaur to date – one with four solid rocket boosters (SRB) attached to the core stage. The USSF-87 will use this same variant, known as the VC4S. The Vulcan can accommodate up to six SRBs.
Vulcan overcame the anomaly and the ULA declared the flight a success. The US Space Force then Vulcan Centaur certified for national security launches like today’s mission. This brings to two the number of launchers certified to launch military and spy satellites, the other being EspaceX.
Vulcan Centaur has already been tapped to launch more than two dozen national security missions on behalf of the U.S. Space Force, according to ULA. The rocket can be launched from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Space Base in California.
