Vulcan Rocket Glitches, Successfully Launched

The second Vulcan Centaur rocket faced a potential glitch during the United Launch Alliance (ULA)’s latest test flight aimed at finalizing its certification process. The launch occurred on October 4 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The lift-off experienced a slight delay as the team extended pre-launch checks. The first countdown was halted with just 1 minute and 51 seconds remaining due to a “transient on a redundant data system,” according to ULA’s chief executive Tory Bruno. Controllers quickly addressed the issue, resetting the countdown, leading to a successful launch.

Here's another angle from this morning's flight of Vulcan Cert-2 and the anomalous behavior from SRB no. 1's nozzle section.

First 1:12 slowed to 60% speed.

📸 – @NASASpaceflight

📺 – https://t.co/GF6C1sCML1 pic.twitter.com/4TNuxJX4ca

— Max Evans (@_mgde_) October 4, 2024

Approximately 35 seconds into the flight, material appeared to detach from one of the boosters, and its plume changed color, indicating possible damage to the nozzle of the solid rocket boosters (SRBs). While ULA did not address this minor malfunction during ascent, it affected the timing of certain key post-launch stages.

Notably, the separation of the GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters occurred about 30 seconds later than the pre-launch timeline, and other milestones were delayed by up to 20 seconds. Despite these discrepancies, ULA reported that the Vulcan Centaur’s early flight stages were nominal. “The trajectory was nominal throughout,” Bruno stated on the company’s launch website. “We did, however, have an observation on SRB No. 1, so we will be looking at that after the mission is complete.”

The launch, dubbed the Cert-2 mission, was primarily a test flight, carrying only a mass simulator and instrumentation. Originally, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane was slated for the flight but was replaced by an inert payload in June due to scheduling issues with the spaceplane’s readiness.

With the recent launch, ULA aims to meet key flight test requirements and finalize its certification process with the US Space Force. The Space Force mandates two successful verification flights before allowing the Vulcan rocket to carry national security payloads.

Aakhir Tak Editor-in-Chief

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