CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully launched its next-generation Vulcan rocket on Oct. 4 at 6:25 a.m. CST from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“The success of Vulcan’s second certification flight heralds a new age of forward-looking technology committed to meeting the ever-growing requirements of space launch and supporting our nation’s assured access to space. We had an observation on one of our solid rocket boosters (SRB) that we are reviewing but we are overall pleased with the rocket’s performance and had a bullseye insertion,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO.
The Cert-2 mission included tests and demonstrations to showcase the future capabilities of Centaur V, which is the most powerful upper stage rocket available. Centaur V delivers 2.5 times more energy and lasts 450 times longer than previous models, allowing it to perform complicated tasks in difficult orbits.
“Vulcan is built with the strength of a national workforce whose unmatched dedication and innovation has modernized the very best of our industry-leading heritage,” said Mark Peller, vice president of Vulcan Development. “The foundation of Vulcan’s purpose-built design rests on the best of what we’ve learned from more than 120 combined years of launch experience with Atlas and Delta.”
Space Force’s certification process, and ULA has now completed all requirements for certification. ULA stated that they will work closely with the U.S. Space Force in the coming weeks to review the data from this launch and compare it with the first certification mission to ensure everything performed as expected.
However, viewers did notice an anomaly with one of the solid rocket boosters, leading to speculation online about a possible burn-through occuring. ULA CEO Tony Bruno commented on X that the issue was a nozzle anomaly.
Once this evaluation meets the Space Force's standards, the Vulcan rocket will be certified to launch national security missions.
“The team will continue to modify our infrastructure as we work towards an accelerated launch cadence to meet our customers’ manifest requirements while building off today’s successful launch and developing future Vulcan upgrades, including SMART reuse plans for downrange, non-propulsive recovery of Vulcan engines,” said Bruno.