The reasons SpaceX won nearly all recent military launch contracts

> SpaceX has launched at a rate nearly 34 times higher than United Launch Alliance since the start of 2023, but ULA has more experience with high-energy missions, featuring more complex maneuvers to place military payloads directly into geosynchronous orbit, and sometimes releasing multiple payloads at different locations in the geosynchronous belt.

> This is one of the most challenging mission profiles for any rocket, requiring a high-endurance upper stage, like Vulcan's Centaur V, capable of cruising through space for eight or more hours.

> SpaceX has flown a long-duration version of its upper stage on several missions by adding an extended mission kit. This gives the rocket longer battery life and a custom band of thermal paint to help ensure its kerosene fuel does not freeze in the cold environment of space.