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ULA targets Christmas Eve for inaugural launch of Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral

Vulcan Centaur set to launch Dec. 24

ULA's #VulcanRocket first certification mission (#Cert1) is planned to launch on Sunday, Dec. 24, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. (ULA on X Oct. 24, 2023) (ULA, ULA)

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – United Launch Alliance is now targeting Christmas Eve to attempt to launch its new Vulcan Centaur rocket on an inaugural mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.

ULA’s Vulcan Centaur — which is slated to replace the Atlas V — will launch Dec. 24 from Launch Complex 41, company officials announced via X (formerly Twitter).

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The rocket will be carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, which NASA expects to advance research ahead of putting two astronauts on the moon’s surface before 2030. The lander is expected to touch down on the northern part of the moon.

The next-generation rocket’s debut launch date was postponed after a Centaur upper stage exploded in March during testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

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A subsequent investigation blamed a hydrogen leak that created a crack in Centaur’s 18-foot diameter tank.

The Vulcan Centaur’s major components arrived at Cape Canaveral in January via barge after a 2,000-mile voyage from the company’s rocket factory in Decatur, Alabama.

In June, ULA successfully completed a six-second test fire of the Vulcan Centaur’s BE-4 main engines at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Vulcan’s first Certification-1 mission is a test flight designed to meet future Space Force national-security mission-certification requirements.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here). Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1


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