ULA launches STP-3 mission for NNSA, NASA, and the US Air Force

Credit: United Launch Alliance

On Tuesday, December 7 at 5:17 am ET, ULA launched 8 payloads atop their Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch was originally targeted for Sunday, but it was delayed to Monday and then Tuesday because of a leak discovered in the RP-1 ground storage system.

The payloads are STPSat-6 for the NNSA, six payloads for the US Air Force, and NASA's LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration). This spacecraft will attempt to communicate with the International Space Station via lasers. Laser communications will be very important when people go to Mars and beyond to send large amounts of data. You can learn more about this mission in the below NASA Edge episode.

Credit: NASA