United Launch Alliance, LLC (ULA) is an American launch service provider formed in December 2006 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The company designs, assembles, sells and launches rockets. The company uses rocket engines, solid rocket boosters, and other components supplied by other companies.
When founded, the company inherited the Atlas V rocket from Lockheed Martin and the Delta rocket family from Boeing. As of 2024, the Delta family has been retired and the Atlas V is in the process of being retired. ULA began development of the Vulcan Centaur in 2014 as replacement for both the Atlas and Delta rocket families. The Vulcan Centaur completed its maiden flight in January 2024.
The primary customers of ULA are the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA, but it also serves commercial clients.
Company history Formation Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced on May 2, 2005, that they would establish a 50/50 joint venture, United Launch Alliance (ULA), to consolidate their space launch operations.
The two companies had long competed for launch services contracts from the DoD, and their Atlas and Delta rockets were the two launch vehicles selected under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The DoD had hoped the program would foster the creation of a strong, competitive commercial launch market. However, both companies said that this competition had made space launches unprofitable. Boeing's future in the program was also threatened in 2003 when it was found to be in possession of proprietary documents from Lockheed Martin. To end litigation and competition, both companies agreed to form the ULA joint venture. During the renewal of the EELV contract, the DoD said the merger would provide annual cost savings of $100–150 million.
SpaceX attempted to challenge the merger on anti-trust grounds, saying it would create a space launch monopoly. The Federal Trade Commission ultimately granted ULA anti-trust clearance, prioritizing national security access to space over potential competition concerns.
Michael Gass era (2005–2014) Michael Gass was announced as the first CEO of ULA and oversaw the merger of the two groups. Production was consolidated into one central plant in Decatur, Alabama while all engineering was moved into a facility in Littleton, Colorado. The parent companies retained responsibility for marketing and sales of the Delta and Atlas rockets.
Cost pressures led ULA to announce it would lay off 350 of its 4,200 workers in early 2009, and decommissioned two of its seven launch pads. ULA also joined and later left the Commercial Spaceflight Federation during this period.
The introduction of lower-cost competition and rising ULA launch costs attracted scrutiny. ULA's reliance on government funding for launch readiness, including maintaining multiple launchpads and rocket variants, became a point of discussion, particularly as the EELV program experienced a cost breach in 2012.
ULA was awarded a DoD contract in December 2013 to provide 36 rocket cores for up to 28 launches. The award drew protest from SpaceX, which said the cost of ULA's launches were approximately US$460 million each and proposed a price of US$90 million to provide similar launches. In response, Gass said ULA's average launch price was US$225 million, with future launches as low as US$100 million.
Tory Bruno era (2014–2025)
In August 2014, Tory Bruno became CEO of ULA. Bruno's appointment came as ULA faced pressure to develop a next-generation launch vehicle and reduce costs to better compete with SpaceX and its partially reusable rockets. The company's high launch costs left it with few commercial and civil satellite customers, making it increasingly reliant on U.S. military and intelligence contracts, which were also under competitive threat from SpaceX. Additionally, ULA faced pressure to replace its Russian-made RD-180 engines with Western alternatives following the Russian annexation of Crimea. In 2016, Congress passed a law prohibiting the military from procuring launch services using the RD-180 after 2022.
To reduce costs, ULA underwent major restructuring, cutting its workforce from 3,600 to 2,500 by 2018 and consolidating operations from five launch pads to two. To develop a replacement engine, ULA partnered with Blue Origin on the BE-4, which became the core of its next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket. Vulcan was designed to lower costs and increase competitiveness in the commercial market, combining technologies from the Delta and Atlas families with new innovations.
Despite these efforts, ULA's services remained more expensive than SpaceX's. Its joint bid with Dynetics for a NASA lunar lander was rejected in 2021 as "low in readiness." The Delta rocket family was retired in 2024. While the vehicle supported critical national security and NASA missions, it was expensive and slow to manufacture, limiting its commercial viability. The Falcon Heavy effectively captured its commercial market share. ULA stockpiled approximately 100 RD-180 engines for the Atlas V to fulfill remaining contracts, with no new orders planned.
In 2022, Amazon selected ULA as one of its launch providers for Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation, awarding 9 launches on Atlas V and 38 on Vulcan Centaur, out of 83 total launches, marking ULA’s largest-ever commercial contract.
By late 2023, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were seeking to sell ULA, with potential buyers including Blue Origin, Cerberus Capital Management, and Textron. Reports in mid-2024 indicated Sierra Space was in advanced talks to acquire ULA. As of 2025, however, the company had not been sold.
In April 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded ULA a $5.3 billion contract for 19 missions as part of a multibillion-dollar procurement covering approximately 80 national security launches between 2025 and 2034. SpaceX received the majority of missions (28), while Blue Origin was awarded seven.
Military officials expressed growing frustration with ULA over ongoing delays in the Vulcan program. In testimony to the House Armed Services Committee in May 2025, Major General Stephen G. Purdy called the rocket's recent performance "unsatisfactory," noting that slow progress in replacing the Atlas and Delta launch vehicles had postponed four national security missions. These delays, he said, disrupted the Space Force’s ability to meet key objectives. Purdy added that ULA would need to "repair trust" and demonstrate greater accountability.
On December 22, 2025, Tory Bruno resigned as president and CEO of United Launch Alliance in an unexpected departure. The ULA board did not specify a reason for Bruno’s resignation at the time, later revealed to be his move to competitor Blue Origin, and chief operating officer John Elbon was named interim CEO.
Products When the joint venture was founded in 2006, ULA inherited the Atlas rocket family from Lockheed Martin and the Delta rocket family from Boeing. As of 2024, the Delta family has been retired and the Atlas V is in the process of being retired. ULA began development of the Vulcan Centaur in 2014 as replacement for both the Atlas and Delta rocket families.
Vulcan Centaur
The Vulcan Centaur is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by ULA integrating technology from both its prior Atlas and Delta rocket families along with advancements. Vulcan has been designed to meet the requirements of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program and be capable of achieving human-rating certification to allow the launch of a vehicle such as the Boeing Starliner or Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser.
The rocket was developed as ULA faced pressure to respond to growing competition from SpaceX and its reusable rockets and the need to phase out the RD-180 engine used on the Atlas V, which is built in Russia, and subject to international sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Vulcan Centaur has a maximum liftoff thrust of , enabling it to carry to low Earth orbit, to a geostationary transfer orbit, and to geostationary orbit.
The Vulcan first stage is the same size as the Delta family's Common Booster Core, uses two BE-4 engines built by Blue Origin and fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid methane (liquefied natural gas). The second stage is the Centaur V, an improved version of the Centaur III used on the Atlas, which is powered by two RL10 engines built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The first stage can be supplemented by up to six GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters built by Northrop Grumman.
ULA is investigating a way to partially reuse its launch vehicles with the Sensible Modular Autonomous Return Technology (SMART) system. This system envisions jettisoning the BE-4 engines and avionics as a single unit which would be protected by an inflatable heat shield during its descent back to Earth. After being slowed by parachutes and splashing down in the ocean, the heat shield would double as a raft, and the engines and avionics module would be retrieved for refurbishment. ULA estimates that this approach could reduce the cost of producing the first stage of its rockets by 65%.
Development of the Vulcan Centaur was funded as a public–private partnership with the U.S. government contributing approximately US$1.2 billion toward initial development costs. Boeing and Lockheed Martin contributed the remaining cost of development, estimated at 75% of the cost, as of March 2018.
In October 2018, the NSSL program purchased a prototype Vulcan mission to be launched in 2019. In August 2020 ULA was awarded a contract to launch 60% of NSSL missions over a 5-year period beginning in 2022. However, Vulcan Centaur was delayed repeatedly. The inaugural flight occurred on January 8, 2024, successfully sending the Peregrine lunar lander into orbit toward the moon. This launch was intended to allow Astrobotic Technology to conduct five lunar experiments for NASA.
ULA completed a second test flight, named Cert-2, of the Vulcan Centaur on the morning of October 4, 2024, at Cape Canaveral. The Space Force will examine the flight data to determine if Vulcan Centaur will be certified for national security missions.
Atlas V
Developed by Lockheed Martin and transitioned to ULA in 2006, the Atlas V was ULA's primary launch vehicle for two decades. However, the rocket is nearing retirement, with all remaining flights booked and no new orders accepted. As of January 2026, Atlas V had completed 106 missions, with 10 launches scheduled. The rocket has been offered in eleven configurations, though only the "551" and "N22" remain operational.
Born from the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, the Atlas V's first successful launch took place in 2002. This expendable launch system utilizes a two-stage design. The first stage, named the Common Core Booster, uses a single Russian-made RD-180 engine, fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen. The second stage, a Centaur III powered by the RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The first stage can be supplemented by up to five AJ-60A or GEM 63 solid rocket boosters.
The Atlas V has undergone modifications for human spaceflight, specifically for Boeing's Starliner capsule. These modifications include upgraded computers for monitoring and abort capabilities, data links, and manual abort mechanisms for the crew. Notably, Starliner missions use a unique Atlas V configuration: two solid rocket boosters, no payload fairing, and a dual-engine Centaur second stage for a shallower launch profile and reduced crew G-forces. This configuration stands 172 feet tall, and ULA was contracted for nine Starliner missions with Atlas V.
Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage