United Launch Alliance Celebrates 50 Years of Americans in Orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., Feb. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflecting upon NASA's tremendous successes over the last five decades, the men and women at United Launch Alliance are honored that our heritage Atlas vehicles launched the historic Mercury launches of John Glenn and Scott Carpenter 50 years ago this Monday.

Today, ULA stands on the shoulders of giants as the Atlas launch vehicle once again has been selected for human spaceflight – this time as the launch vehicle for Boeing's CST-100, Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser and Blue Origin's Space Vehicle under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Working together with NASA, these established companies and entrepreneurs plan to usher in a bold new era of human spaceflight – transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and opening spaceflight to non-government passengers for the first time.

We congratulate the NASA team and the heroes who launched the dreams of our country. ULA is proud of our contributions to those first momentous launches and privileged to continue working with NASA to boldly launch the future.

SOURCE United Launch Alliance