United Launch Alliance
Joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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United Launch Alliance, LLC (ULA) is an American aerospace manufacturer, defense contractor and launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that launch spacecrafts into orbits around Earth and other bodies in the Solar System.
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 Atlas V 551 launch with Juno | |
| Type | Joint venture |
|---|---|
| Industry | Space |
| Founded | December 1, 2006; 16 years ago (2006-12-01) |
| Headquarters | Centennial, Colorado, United States |
Key people | Tory Bruno (CEO) |
| Products | |
| Revenue | US$1.32 billion (2018) |
Number of employees | 2500 (2018)[1] 3600 (2014) 3900 (2009) 4200 (2008)[2] |
| Parent | Lockheed Martin Space (50%) Boeing Defense, Space & Security (50%) |
| Website | www |
The company is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security that was formed in December 2006. Main customers of United Launch Alliance (ULA) are the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA.[3]
ULA provides launch services using expendable launch systems Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V, and until 2018 the medium-lift Delta II. The Atlas, Delta IV Heavy and the retired Delta IV launch systems have launched payloads including weather, telecommunications, and national security satellites, scientific probes and orbiters. ULA also launches commercial satellites.[4] ULA has announced the retirement of its two remaining launch vehicles, which will be replaced by Vulcan Centaur.
As of 2022[update], the company is developing the Vulcan Centaur, a successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV.[5][6] The maiden flight is planned to take place in 2023,[7] launching Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander.[8][9][10][11]