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ULA schedules Vulcan return to flight for 13 November

ULA says Vulcan will fly again on 13 November with a redesigned booster nozzle, carrying satellites for Amazon.

A large white rocket on a launch pad, with a mobile service tower next to it. — United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is rolled out to the launch pad. NASA/Ben Smegelsky via Wikimedia Commons

United Launch Alliance has scheduled Vulcan to return to flight on 13 November, ending a pause that began in February. The rocket will launch a batch of satellites for Amazon's low-Earth-orbit internet constellation. ULA announced the date on 28 October.

Vulcan will fly a redesigned solid rocket booster nozzle. ULA hopes it corrects the problem behind a 12 February mishap, which the company called a "significant performance anomaly". The anomaly occurred after liftoff on the Space Force's USSF-87 mission, which carried two satellites for the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program and a training and demonstration satellite. The launch itself was successful.

Two men stand in front of a large white rocket inside a tall building. — NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Ron Fortson are seen with a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket inside the Vertical Integration Facility. NASA HQ PHOTO via Wikimedia Commons

ULA said the team has identified several potential contributors to the booster anomaly and mitigated them through design and process improvements to the nozzle. Additional testing and analysis will continue in parallel with the mission, the company said.

The grounding has caused significant delays to the military and commercial missions Vulcan was scheduled to fly.

Sourceairandspaceforces.com

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