United Launch Alliance conducted a second Wet Dress Rehearsal test for its new Vulcan rocket on December 12, 2023 at the company’s Cape Canaveral Space Force station launch pad. According to CEO Tory Bruno, the results were successful, clearing the way for Vulcan’s inaugural launch early next month.
In a reply to a query about the WDR status on the X platform, Bruno said “it went great. The critical events we wanted to demonstrate happened nominally and on the timeline. [Vulcan] is now in the pipe for its first launch (CERT1) at the next lunar window on 8 January.”
Vulcan’s first launch had been initially planned for the wee hours of Christmas Eve, December 24, but problems with the first WDR forced ULA to take corrective actions and conduct a second test to evaluate and qualify the launch and flight systems of the new rocket. Regarding the first dress rehearsal, Bruno said on December 10th that the “vehicle performed well. Ground system had a couple of (routine) issues, (being corrected). Ran the timeline long so we didn’t quite finish. I’d like a FULL WDR before our first flight, so XMAS eve is likely out. Next Peregrine window is 8 Jan.” The second full WDR test was the one conducted this week.
The Peregrine lunar lander is the payload for Vulcan CERT-1. Built by Astrobiotics, a Pennsylvania company, the spacecraft is carrying 21 payloads from governments, companies, universities, and NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and is one of the first robotic landers that the US has ever sent to the lunar surface.