Using Lightroom rather than Photoshop, I edited one of the photos I took from the January 8, 2024 launch of ULA’s Vulcan. The second launch of this rocket is scheduled for Friday 10/4.
Vulcan CERT-1 Revisited
ULA Rolls Second Vulcan Rocket To Its Launch Mount
Photo: United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance has moved its second Vulcan Rocket from their Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 to the launch mount. Final preparations can now begin for a launch scheduled for NET (not earlier than) Friday morning. Launch time is unofficially expected to be between 06:00 AM – 009:00 AM EDT, but ULA has not yet announced an official time for T-0.
Test Mission
This mission, dubbed “CERT-2” will not carry a customer payload. Originally slated to launch Sierra’s Dream Chaser on its maiden voyage to the International Space Station, ULA and Sierra agreed to remove the payload because Sierra would not have Dream Chaser flight-ready this fall. Instead, ULA will fly an inert “dummy” to simulate a payload with the goal being to further prove out the Vulcan system and also to achieve certification from the Department of Defense for Vulcan to launch national defense payloads.
In its first launch, Vulcan performed admirably, launching Astrobiotics Peregrine lunar lander to its target orbit, with the lander then traveling to cislunar space.
Vulcan is the first rocket designed wholly by United Launch Alliance. The Delta and Atlas family of rockets were legacy designs created by Boeing and Lockheed Martin respectively prior to the founding of the company in 2006. ULA is a joint venture between the two aerospace giants, and has successfully launched more than 157 missions since its inception.
According to the company, “This second Certification (Cert-2) launch will demonstrate Vulcan’s high-energy rocket architecture by achieving an Earth-escape trajectory and placing the Centaur V with an inert, non-deployable payload into deep space where it will orbit the sun for the rest of time. Cert-2 follows Vulcan’s successful inaugural launch on Jan. 8, 2024.”
Vulcan CERT-2 will be externally identical to the CERT-1 vehicle: along with the methane-oxygen fueled first stage powered by two Blue Origin BE-4 engines (the same engine Blue Origin will use with New Glenn) the first stage will also have two GEM solid-rocket boosters attached to give it additional lifting power. Together, the methane-fueled main engines and SRBs will provide the 2 million pounds (8.9 kilo-Newtons) of thrust generated at liftoff to power Vulcan off the launch pad.
Mark Peller, ULA’s senior vice president, Vulcan Development and Advanced Programs said in a press release that, “After the key objectives necessary for certification are completed, the mission will evaluate additional changes to the design of the upper stage and how it is operated over long coast periods to further increase its endurance.”
In other words, ULA plans to first meet the requirements of DoD certification, and afterwards, work on iterative improvements on the new vehicle.
Launch Report: SpaceX Launches Starlink 10-5 From Cape Canaveral
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX launched another tranche of Starlink satellites to orbit this morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.
Liftoff was at 09:20 AM EDT, with Booster B1085 completing its first mission successfully 8:14 minutes later when it touched down offshore on ASDS ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’
B0185, whose maiden flight was originally slated for Crew 9, was moved up in SpaceX’s rotation to prove in the booster due to some water intrusion while it was being shipped from the company’s McGregor, Texas facilities. The flight was nominal, and the booster will not be returned to Port Canaveral and ultimately SpaceX’s ‘Hangar X’ facility where it will be inspected and refurbished with an eye towards using it for the Crew 9 flight late next month.
The second stage continued to orbit nominally, with SpaceX reporting several successful second stage burns that optimized the orbit for payload deployment.
Payload
23 Starlink satellites. They will join Group 10 of SpaceX’s burgeoning Starlink’s constellation of Internet communication satellites. That service is used by over 3.1 million users in over 100 countries and territories worldwide.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
SpaceX will launch another group of Starlink satellites early in the morning on Friday from Space Launch Complex 40.
- Date: NET August 23, 2024
- Organization: SpaceX
- Mission: Starlink 8-6
- Rocket: Falcon 9
- Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Window: 03:46 – 07:46 AM EDT
- Payload: Starlink telecommunication satellites
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Photo: Charles Boyer, Talk of Titusville
Launch Report: SpaceX Launches WorldView 3 & 4 Satellites From Cape Canaveral
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
On a humid, hazy and thoroughly typical August morning in central Florida, SpaceX launched the WorldView 3 and WorldView 4 Earth-imaging satellites owned and operated by Maxar Corporation.
Liftoff was at the opening of the launch window at 09:00 AM EDT, with Booster B1076 completing its 16th mission successfully 7:48 minutes later when it touched down at Landing Zone 1, about six miles from where it had launched only minutes before. Moments later, a pair of sonic booms sounded the booster’s return.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
The second stage continued to orbit nominally, with SpaceX reporting several successful second stage burns that optimized the orbit for payload deployment.
Payload
Two Maxar WorldView Earth-observation satellites.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
It will be a quiet weekend at the Cape as no launches are scheduled until next Tuesday, August 20th when SpaceX will launch another tranche of Starlink satellites aboard Falcon 9. The launch will be from Space Launch Complex 40 and the window opens at 05:20 AM EDT.
- Date: NET August 20, 2024
- Organization: SpaceX
- Mission: Starlink 10-5
- Rocket: Falcon 9
- Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Window: 05:20 – 09:20 AM EDT
- Payload: Starlink telecommunication satellites
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
United Launch Alliance, Atlas V, USSF-51, July 30, 2024
United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V 551 from Space Launch Complex 41 this morning carrying the USSF-51 classified national defense payload for the US Space Force. Liftoff was at 06:45 AM EDT, just as the sun was rising.
Today’s launch was the last national security payload for Atlas V, but the rocket will continue to fly until 2030 when it will loft astronauts aboard Starliner to the ISS. All remaining Atlas V launches are scheduled to take place in Cape Canaveral at SLC-41.
The next Atlas V scheduled to launch will be for Amazon’s Project Kuiper sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, carrying the first of its production satellites to orbit for the company’s planned LEO-based Internet service.
Boeing Starliner, Crewed Flight Test, May 2024
I was not able to be present at Cape Canaveral for the actual launch of Starliner due to prior commitments and the two previous scrubs of the flight moving the schedule into the middle of another long-planned trip. Disappointing, but things happen. I was, however, able to capture a lot of the prelaunch activities:
ULA Atlas V, Boeing Starliner, OFT-2, May 19, 2022
A couple of previously unreleased photos of Boeing Starliner OFT-2 that I took in 2022:
ULA Atlas V, Starliner CFT, Pad Rollout
On a warm and shimmery* morning on one of the first days of summer here on the Space Coast, United Launch Alliance rolled Atlas V and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner “Calypso” from ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility to the launch mount at Pad SLC-41.
ULA Vulcan CERT-1, 01-08-2024
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket lifted off of Pad SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force station at 2:18:38 EST this morning, with the rocket working in near-perfect fashion as it sent the Astrobiotics Peregrine lunar lander towards the moon and a Celestis memorial payload on its way to permanent solar orbit.
Video from ULA Atlas-V, Amazon ProtoKuiper
United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Otober 6, 2023, shortly after 2PM Eastern Time. The rocket was carrying two Amazon subsidiary Kuiper Systems demonstration satellites into orbit. Shortly after 4pm, ULA CEO Tory Bruno announced that the launch was successful, marking ULA’s 158th consecutive successful mission.
According to Dr. Jonathon McDowell of Harvard University’s Center for Astrophysics, the satellites were placed in a roughly 310 by 310 miw (500 x 500 km) circular orbit. McDowell also said that the second stage of the Atlas rocket would be placed in solar orbit for disposal.
This video results from a team effort by the Florida Media Now group, including myself, Richard Gallagher, T.J. Waller, Mark Stone and others. It was edited by me using Final Cut Pro.
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