Atlas V (space rocket)

2024: Last Russian-powered rocket launch RD-180

On July 30, 2024 USA , the company's Atlas V rocket launched from the Space Force base at Cape Canaveral in Florida. United Launch Alliance This is the last launch of a carrier with a Russian engine RD-180 in the interests. US Department of Defense

The launched Atlas V rocket brought a secret military load into space. The mission was designated USSF-51. At the request of the American authorities, the United Launch Alliance stopped webcast of the launch about three and a half minutes after launch - after dropping the payload fairing. The Space Force command said the satellite was put into a calculated orbit about seven hours after launch. This was the 101st launch of the Atlas V rocket since its debut in 2002, as well as the 58th and last flight of this payload carrier in the interests of US national security since 2007.

United Launch Alliance

It is noted that in total, the Russian enterprise NPO Energomash named after Academician V.P. Glushko shipped 122 RD-180 units to the United States. Six of these engines were used on Lockheed Martin's Atlas III rocket, which went out of service in 2005, and the rest were used to launch Atlas V. Initially, the cost of the RD-180 was approximately $10 million. For the entire period of operation, not a single copy of the Russian power plant has failed.

According to the Arstechnica resource, as of the end of July 2024, 15 more RD-180 units are in stock at the United Launch Alliance. They will be used approximately until 2030 to launch exclusively commercial vehicles into space - in the interests of the Pentagon, such engines will no longer be used. In the future, all missiles intended for national security missions will be fully manufactured in the United States.^[1]

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