United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur VC4S rocket carried out its first National Security Space Launch on Tuesday night, lifting off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 8:56 p.m. Eastern (00:56 UTC Wednesday). Propelled by two Blue Origin BE-4 engines and four Northrop Grumman GEM-63XL boosters generating roughly three million pounds of thrust, the 202-foot vehicle flew a seven-hour profile before deploying the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Navigation Technology Satellite-3 and at least one classified payload to geosynchronous orbit. The flight was Vulcan’s third overall and its inaugural operational mission since winning Space Force certification in March. It also ends the Pentagon’s dependence on Russian-built RD-180 engines that powered ULA’s Atlas V fleet. Mission director Col. Jim Horne hailed the launch as “an outstanding achievement,” while ULA Chief Executive Tory Bruno said the vehicle delivered “with power, precision and confidence.” Vulcan now holds more than two dozen additional Space Force orders, alongside commercial contracts for Amazon’s Kuiper constellation and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser. Vulcan’s success capped a busy stretch on the Space Coast. Early on 11 August, a SpaceX Falcon 9 placed 24 Amazon Project Kuiper broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit after four weather-related delays, raising Kuiper’s in-orbit tally to 102. The KF-02 flight was SpaceX’s 100th launch of 2025 and its 97th Falcon 9 mission of the year. Minutes before Vulcan’s liftoff, Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket launched from French Guiana at 00:37 UTC, delivering the 4-tonne MetOp-SG-A1 weather satellite and ESA’s Sentinel-5 atmospheric sensor. The back-to-back successes marked the Ariane 6 launcher’s third flight and its second commercial mission. The rapid cadence underscores intensifying global competition in launch and satellite-internet markets, with ULA accelerating Vulcan production, SpaceX sustaining record Falcon 9 activity, Amazon expanding Kuiper, and Europe restoring heavy-lift capacity through Ariane 6.