United Launch Alliance delivered multiple US military satellites into a high-altitude orbit after a prime-time launch Tuesday night, marking an important transition from development to operations for the company's new Vulcan rocket.

This mission, officially designated USSF-106 by the US Space Force, was the first flight of ULA's Vulcan rocket to carry national security payloads. Two test flights of the Vulcan rocket last year gave military officials enough confidence to certify it for launching the Pentagon's medium-to-large space missions.

United Launch Alliance's third 202-foot-tall (61.6-meter) Vulcan rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 8:56 pm EDT Tuesday (00:56 UTC Wednesday). Two methane-burning BE-4 main engines, supplied by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, and four solid-fueled boosters from Northrop Grumman powered the rocket off the launch pad with nearly 3 million pounds of thrust.

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After more than a decade of development and testing, US military officials are finally ready to entrust United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket to haul a batch of national security satellites into space.

An experimental military navigation satellite, also more than 10 years in the making, will ride ULA's Vulcan rocket into geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. There are additional payloads buttoned up inside the Vulcan rocket's nose cone, but officials from the US Space Force are mum on the details.

The Vulcan rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 7:59 pm EDT (23:59 UTC) Tuesday. There's an 80 percent chance of favorable weather during the one-hour launch window. It will take several hours for the Vulcan rocket's Centaur upper stage to reach its destination in geosynchronous orbit. You can watch ULA's live launch webcast below.

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