The U.S. Space Force reportedly reassigned two high-energy missions from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy: a missile-warning satellite identified as USSF-57 and an experimental payload for cislunar surveillance, the monitoring of space around Earth and the Moon. The change is part of a broader reshuffling of six national-security launch assignments.
The two missions assigned to Falcon Heavy
SpaceNews reported the two Falcon Heavy assignments on October 24, 2026. Spaceflight News identified the missile-warning mission as USSF-57, the first geosynchronous mission in the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program. The reports describe the other payload as an experimental cislunar-surveillance stack.
How the six-mission reshuffle works
The reported reshuffle covers three GPS launches, one Space Development Agency (SDA) mission and two higher-energy missions. The two higher-energy missions were assigned to Falcon Heavy; the other assignments were shifted to SpaceX rockets without a specific vehicle identified for each.
The arrangement also preserves later national-security work for ULA. Reports describe those later missions returning to Vulcan after the rocket is recertified, making the change a reshuffle of launch assignments rather than a cancellation of ULA’s future work.
Why Vulcan assignments changed
SpaceNews attributed the broader reshuffle to delays affecting Vulcan. In an October 24 account, Spaceflight News linked the launch changes to Vulcan’s grounding after a reported GEM 63XL solid rocket motor anomaly during the USSF-87 mission on February 12, 2026.
The schedule reported for USSF-57
On October 24, 2026, Spaceflight News reported that USSF-57’s Falcon Heavy launch was scheduled no earlier than October 2026. That is the date given in the report’s schedule; it does not provide a later launch milestone.
