United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket Launch Scheduled for Thursday from Cape Canaveral
By Space Coast Daily // February 10, 2026
Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV
ABOVE VIDEO: A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket will deliver national security spacecraft directly to geosynchronous orbit for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command on the USSF-87 mission.
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – The Launch Readiness Review is GO for Thursday’s liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket on a U.S. national security mission, known as USSF-87.
Liftoff is scheduled for 3:30 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The two-hour launch window extends to 5:30 a.m. EST.
The LRR, led by ULA Launch Director James Whelan, was completed this morning at the Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC).
Leadership from ULA and the Space Force assessed the readiness of the rocket, payload and mission assets, discussed the status of pre-flight processing work, heard technical overviews of the countdown and flight, and previewed the weather forecast that projects a 90 percent chance of meeting the launch rules.
At the conclusion of the meeting, senior leaders were polled and gave a ready status for launch, then signed the Launch Readiness Certificate.
The USSF-87 multi-manifested mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command will launch aboard a Vulcan VC4S rocket, designated V-005. It stands 202 feet (61.6 meters) tall and will launch its payload directly into geosynchronous Earth orbit.
Launching atop the rocket, as the forward spacecraft, is the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) spacecraft, built by Northrop Grumman, to improve our ability to rapidly detect, warn, characterize and attribute disturbances to space systems in the geosynchronous environment. The Aft SV, provided by Northrop Grumman, is a propulsed ESPA flying multiple payloads.
