Launches
The first launch conducted by ULA was of a Delta II, flying from Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 14, 2006. The rocket carried the USA 193 satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. This satellite failed shortly after launch and was intentionally destroyed on February 21, 2008 by an SM-3 missile fired from the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Lake Erie.
On June 15, 2007, the engine in the Centaur upper stage of a ULA-launched Atlas V shut down early, leaving its payload – a pair of NRO L-30 ocean surveillance satellites – in a lower than intended orbit. The anomaly caused delays to forthcoming Atlas V and Delta IV launches, due to the common RL-10 upper stage engines. The fault was traced to a new type of valve being used in place of an older component which had gone out of production. To resolve the problem, the older design was put back into production, and in the meantime, surplus valves from the original production run were used.
Commercial and international launches aboard Atlas V and Delta rockets are managed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services and Boeing Launch Services, respectively.
Read more about this topic: United Launch Alliance