ULA successfully completes second test launch of its new Vulcan rocket
ULA this morning successfully completed the second test launch of its new Vulcan rocket, lifting off from Cape Canaveral from Florida.
It placed a dummy test payload into orbit in order to obtain from the Space Force certification that will allow the company to begin operational military launches and actually make money from the rocket. ULA hopes to launch two such Vulcan launches before the end of the year, and then hopes to do ten more Vulcan launches in 2025, along with ten Atlas-5 launches as it closes out that rocket’s inventory before retiring it.
UPDATE: An explosion on of Vulcun’s two solid-fueled strap-on boosters during the launch today might prevent a quick certification from the military. Though the rocket successfully put the payload into its correct orbit, it appears the nozzle failed on that booster, throwing it out sideways, fortunately away from the rocket. The video here shows this clearly. I was startled by this explosion during the launch, but then forgot about it (until my readers reminded me) when the payload reached orbit as planned.
The strap-on boosters are manufactured by Northrop Grumman. Before using them again ULA needs to get clarity on this issue. We also must wonder if the FAA will step in as it has for SpaceX to ground ULA. At the moment it has decided not to do so.
This was ULA’s fifth launch in 2024, so there is no change in the 2024 launch race leader board.
95 SpaceX
44 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 112 to 67, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 95 to 84.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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ULA this morning successfully completed the second test launch of its new Vulcan rocket, lifting off from Cape Canaveral from Florida.
It placed a dummy test payload into orbit in order to obtain from the Space Force certification that will allow the company to begin operational military launches and actually make money from the rocket. ULA hopes to launch two such Vulcan launches before the end of the year, and then hopes to do ten more Vulcan launches in 2025, along with ten Atlas-5 launches as it closes out that rocket’s inventory before retiring it.
UPDATE: An explosion on of Vulcun’s two solid-fueled strap-on boosters during the launch today might prevent a quick certification from the military. Though the rocket successfully put the payload into its correct orbit, it appears the nozzle failed on that booster, throwing it out sideways, fortunately away from the rocket. The video here shows this clearly. I was startled by this explosion during the launch, but then forgot about it (until my readers reminded me) when the payload reached orbit as planned.
The strap-on boosters are manufactured by Northrop Grumman. Before using them again ULA needs to get clarity on this issue. We also must wonder if the FAA will step in as it has for SpaceX to ground ULA. At the moment it has decided not to do so.
This was ULA’s fifth launch in 2024, so there is no change in the 2024 launch race leader board.
95 SpaceX
44 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 112 to 67, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 95 to 84.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Good enough for government work anyway.
https://x.com/dwisecinema/status/1842173022792299003
Whatever part that was, it was extra :).
Another view of the ‘off-nominal’ event.
https://x.com/_mgde_/status/1842178511093580209
Rocket obviously recovered well.
From Woods170, a well connected regular over at the NSF forums, just now:
Word I got from a ULA source, just minutes ago, is that the affected SRB suffered a major failure of its nozzle and they consider themselves lucky it was pointed mostly away from the core stage. Likely started with a nozzle burn-through.
Edit: update from my source:
Investigation of what went wrong with the SRB 1 is coming. Initial assessment is that it violently shedded a major portion of its nozzle.
This would align with observations from the launch webcast which showed a circular object falling away after the sparkly event.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=61114.msg2629790#msg2629790
Obviously, ULA has to investigate this; and I assume, unless someone at the ULA processing facility accidentally dropped the SRB after its arrival, that this is most likely some sort of QA or QC problem that happened at Northrop Grumman’s Promontory, Utah plant. If so, it ought to be very fixable, and maybe ULA can still be certified without another test flight. Everything else seemed to work nominally; the core and the Centaur seem to have done a great job compensating for the loss of thrust resulting from the SRB-1 nozzle failure.
Still, it’s something they have to nail down; I believe the first NSSL mission requires a Vulcan in the VC-4 configuration, which means it will have FOUR solid rocket boosters. They need to make sure the SRB’s are completely reliable.
NASASpaceFlight’s Adrian Bell tweets:
“We asked the @FAANews about today‘s Vulcan launch.”
Statement by the FAA:
Quote: “The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur 2 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Oct. 4, 2024. This involved one of the solid rocket boosters. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is assessing the operation and will issue an updated statement if the agency determines an investigation is warranted.” — FAA
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=61114.msg2629837#msg2629837:~:text=https%3A//twitter.com/bccarcounters/status/1842234216169525466
All: I am adding this info abut the anomaly to the main post. I was startled by it when I watched the video but then forgot about it when the payload reached orbit without problems.
Since ULA supports this Administration/Junta or at least does not do anything that the Junta objects to, the FAA will not ground Vulcan nor give them any problem. The Banana Republic of North America (formerly the U.S.A) is working in its full perversity.
Since ULA supports this Administration/Junta or at least does not do anything that the Junta objects to, the FAA will not ground Vulcan nor give them any problem. The Banana Republic of North America (formerly the U.S.A) is working in its full perversity.
From the rapid and significant excursion of the Vulcan rocket hull that I saw, I think ULA is also very lucky that the ultimate SRB nozzle separation happened early in the boost phase, and not nearer Max-Q.
Watching the video it’s amazing it continue flying after the event first started (as it’s entering the cloud) and the explosion that occurs a short time later blew away from the rocket, with five pieces to the side and four more larger ones that can be seen ejected out the bottom, with more parts falling off as it rises higher into the air.
This will be used to show one of the advantages of solid rocket boosters.