Vulcan Archives - Page 2 of 3

August 12, 2025

The ULA Launch Tonight Has A Chance For a Jellyfish

A small jellyfish seen behind an Atlas V

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is gearing up for a Vulcan launch tonight from SLC-41, USSF-106. Liftoff is set between 7:59 and 8:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2359–0059 UTC). And, if weather and timing permits, the launch may come with a bonus: a jellyfish plume, one of the most spectacular sights a launch spectator can see.

The weather looks favorable, with an 80% chance of conditions being acceptable through the launch window. The primary concerns include cumulus clouds, lightning potential, and surface electric fields. This is of course a common scenario for late-afternoon summer launches on the Space Coast. Final launch preparations by ULA and the Space Force, including the launch vehicle readiness review, are complete and “GO” for tonight.

Launch Time Is Near Local Sunset

If the skies cooperate and if the timing is just right, one of tonight’s most awe-inducing side effects could be a “space jellyfish”, a glowing, jellyfish-shaped plume formed by sunlight illuminating rocket exhaust at high altitude, while the ground below remains in twilight or darkness.

Here’s how it works:

Timing is critical: Launching during twilight means the rocket ascends into sunlight while observers are in shadow. That’s because on the ground, the sun is below the horizon but is still visible in the ultra high altitudes a rocket travels through on its way to space. That’s simple geometry: the angle to the horizon is different for the rocket.
Clear Skies: If low clouds are between the spectator and the rocket, they won’t see much.
High-altitude expansion: If you have seen only a few launches, you probably remember the phase towards the end of the first stage’s part of the flight where gases spread into a broad, diffuse cloud that forms a conical shape behind the rocket. This is not the Max-Q contrail, something common to most rockets, instead, it happens very high in the sky when the rocket’s is mostly outside of Earth’s atmosphere.
Optical spectacle: Because it is still in sunlight, the rocket plume is an illuminated cloud that takes on a jellyfish-like shapes, maybe with tendrils trailing behind, formed by thinner exhaust streams.
Darkness: the relative contrast between the ground and the sky makes this phenomenon highly visible to launch spectators.

Details

Vulcan VC4S | USSF-106 Mission Details

Mission	Vulcan VC4S \| USSF-106
Organization	United Launch Alliance
Location	Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket	Vulcan VC4S
Pad	Space Launch Complex 41
Status	Go for Launch
Status Info	Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens	Tuesday, 08/12/2025 7:59 PM EDT
Window Closes	Tuesday, 08/12/2025 8:59 PM EDT
Destination	Geosynchronous Orbit
Mission Description	USSF-106 is a mission for the United States Space Force deploying payloads—including NTS-3 (Navigation Technology Satellite 3), a demonstrator of a reprogrammable navigation signal generator—directly into GEO.
Information current as of: August 11, 2025, 12:00 PM EDT

Launch dates and liftoff times are subject to change at any time.

Trajectory

Slightly south from due East:

Weather

The 45th Weather Squadron of Space Launch Delta 45 estimates an 80% chance of acceptable launch conditions throughout the hour-long window:

Online Viewing

ULA will have a livestream of the launch on their website: USSF-106.

Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link

For official updates regarding launch times, ULA’s website is the best source of information. Look for the Live Updates section: USSF-106

Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.

Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.

Launch Viewing: In Person

The best free options are available for spectators: Titusville parks on Washington Avenu / US-1 are your best bets: Space View Park, Sands Park, Rotary Riverfront Park, Kennedy Point Park, etc. Jetty Park is also good, as are the pullouts on 528W near the Banana River Bridge.

The Space Bar will be open through the launch window. Restaurants in Port Canaveral, specifically Gators Dockside, Fishlips and Grills Seafood should have good views after the rocket clears obstructions.

August 10, 2025

United Launch Alliance’s First Operational Vulcan Mission Set For Tuesday

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is preparing to launch Vulcan on its first national security mission early next week from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Scheduled for Tuesday, August 12, the USSF-106 mission will lift off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41, carrying the U.S. Space Force’s Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) into geosynchronous orbit.

Launch Details

Vulcan VC4S | USSF-106 (NTS-3 & Others) Mission Details

Mission	Vulcan VC4S \| USSF-106 (NTS-3 & Others)
Organization	United Launch Alliance
Location	Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket	Vulcan VC4S
Pad	Space Launch Complex 41
Status	Go for Launch
Status Info	Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens	Tuesday, 08/12/2025 7:59 PM EDT
Window Closes	Tuesday, 08/12/2025 8:59 PM EDT
Destination	Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO)
Mission Description	USSF-106 is a U.S. Space Force mission deploying multiple payloads—including the NTS-3 (Navigation Technology Satellite 3), a demonstration satellite testing a reprogrammable digital signal generator to improve navigation resilience—directly into GEO using the new Vulcan Centaur VC4S rocket.
Information current as of: August 10, 2025, 11:54 AM EDT

Launch dates and liftoff times are subject to change at any time.

USSF-106 will be Vulcan’s first operational flight, a milestone years in the making. ULA started work on the Vulcan family of rockets in 2014, and later the same year decided to use Blue Origin’s BE-4 methane-oxygen (methalox) engines. The decision was somewhat controversial at the time, given that Blue had not completed the final design of BE-4 much less started producing them at scale. It is ULA’s first rocket that the company has designed completely by itself.

This decision was a result of a way to move away from reliance on Russian RD-180 engines, which powered ULA’s Atlas V, and to ensure a domestically produced alternative for national security launches, and was mandated by Congress.

High Stakes for ULA

The mission is a key test not only of the rocket’s technical reliability but also of ULA’s ability to deliver on commitments that have been delayed by the vehicle’s troubled rollout. Military leaders, including Major General Stephen G. Purdy, have voiced frustration with setbacks that pushed back four major national security missions.

For ULA, this launch is more than just another flight; it is a chance to restore customer confidence after the near-disaster of Vulcan’s second certification mission last October. That launch succeeded in reaching orbit, but only after a solid rocket booster nozzle broke off mid-flight, causing asymmetric thrust that had to be corrected in real time by the in-flight software and by ground controllers. The incident raised concerns about the Vulcan’s Northrup Grumman-built GEM 63XL solid rocket motors, which lead to months of investigation and a test firing before certification for Vulcan was granted in March.

ULA holds a $5.3 billion contract to provide launch services through 2034, a lucrative and strategically important deal that depends on consistent, fault-free performance. A successful USSF-106 flight would help Vulcan’s place as a major part of the nation’s launch capability. A failure would put the company’s reputation and perhaps even government contracts in peril.

Payload

The mission’s payload, NTS-3, is an experimental navigation satellite designed to test advanced technologies designed to augment the GPS system.

The Air Force Research Lab released this video describing NTS-3:

NTS-3 concept image — Artist’s concept for NTS-3 in geostationary orbit. L3Harris Corporation will integrate NTS-3 using Northrop Grumman’s ESPAStar bus, building on EAGLE’s flight heritage. Graphic Credit: 1st Lt. Jacob Lutz

March 26, 2025

United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket Receives NSSL Certification

The United States Space Force has officially certified United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions. This certification follows an extensive evaluation process, including two successful certification flights.

With this approval, ULA is now authorized to conduct NSSL missions, enhancing the nation’s assured access to space by having multiple unique launch service vehicles across multiple vendors. The government seeks this not for operational convenience but instead for tactical agility.

NSSL certification encompasses 52 criteria, involving over 180 specific tasks. These tasks included two certification flight demonstrations, 60 verifications of payload interface requirements, 18 subsystem design and test reviews, and 114 hardware and software audits. This rigorous assessment established the technical foundation for future flightworthiness evaluations.

“The SSC and ULA teams have worked together extremely closely, and certification of this launch system is a direct result of their focus, dedication, and teamwork,” said Gen Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for Assured Access to Space.

The Vulcan Centaur rocket features the Centaur V upper stage, measuring 5.4 meters in diameter and 11.7 meters in length, with a propellant capacity of 120,000 pounds. Constructed from pressure-stabilized, corrosion-resistant stainless steel, the Centaur V utilizes two RL10C engines fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. This design aims to provide enhanced performance and flexibility for complex orbital insertions.

“Thank you to all our customer partners who have worked hand-in-hand with us throughout this comprehensive certification process. We are grateful for the collaboration and excited to reach this critical milestone in Vulcan development,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO.“Vulcan is uniquely designed to meet the challenging requirements demanded by an expanding spectrum of missions for U.S. national security space launches. Moreover, this next-generation rocket provides high performance and extreme accuracy while continuing to deliver to our customer’s most challenging and exotic orbits.”

Flown Twice Successfully, With One Issue

In its inaugural launch on January 8, 2024, the Vulcan Centaur successfully deployed the Peregrine lunar lander. Despite a propulsion issue with the lander that prevented a lunar landing, the Vulcan Centaur performed as intended. A subsequent certification flight on October 4, 2024, experienced a nozzle anomaly on one of the solid rocket boosters but still achieved the mission’s objectives.

With the Vulcan Centaur’s certification, ULA plans to support multiple NSSL missions in the coming years.

January 29, 2025

Dream Chaser Completes Critical Testing Milestone With NASA

Sierra Space announced today it has successfully completed and passed a critical integrated testing milestone in collaboration with NASA on the Dream Chaser spaceplane orbiter Tenacity.

Among the tests that were completed were Dream Chaser’s ability to power-on, air-cool, and exchange data with multiple powered payloads inside its pressurized cabin. The tests were conducted at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“Tests like these are critical demonstrations of the capabilities of the Dream Chaser spaceplane and confirms our ability to handle specialized payloads such as vital scientific research that will be integral to our mission to the ISS,” said Pablo Gonzalez, Vice President of Crew & Cargo Transportation Systems at Sierra Space.

He added that, “This milestone highlights Dream Chaser’s flexibility, reliability, and capability to meet the diverse needs of our payload customers – including NASA and commercial partners – and it brings us another step closer to launch.”

During the testing, three payloads were evaluated, all of which are intended for the Dream Chaser’s first official mission, dubbed DCC-1.

Polar: A sophisticated cryogenic preservation system developed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, designed to store scientific samples under precise temperature conditions from -95°C to +10°C.
Powered Ascent Utility Locker (PAUL): Created by Space Tango, this facility accommodates two CubeLab experiments that require power during their ascent phase, focusing on critical biological research.
NASA’s Single Stowage Locker: A standard equipment storage solution thinly designed to carry various experiments and materials during transport in the Dream Chaser.

Passing the tests demonstrates Dream Chaser’s capability to carry various payloads, meet those payloads environmental requirements and to provide power within specified limits. The tests also demonstrated Dream Chaser’s ability to communicate with the Sierra Space control room in Colorado as well as the payload support center at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.

At this time, it appears that Dream Chaser is on track for a launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket later this year.

October 27, 2024

The Sharpest Eye On The Sky: Pete Carstens And Max Q Productions

Pete Carstens is a man who can see things almost no one else can. Long after launch spectators and even photographers have called it a day, Pete continues tracking the launch, watching the streaking rocket sometimes almost all the way to orbit. Fortunately, he shares everything he sees, making space flight journalism all the better for it.

Along with Chuck and Jen Briggs of C&J Images and a handful of highly talented staff photographers, Carstens’ company, Max Q Productions, provides the bulk of the original live video that Spaceflight Now produces. SFN, of course, is one of the highest-tier independent space news organizations that provide live launch coverage and commentary and is trusted by tens of thousands of space enthusiasts around the world as an original, accurate and pleasant place to catch up on all things space-related.

Here in Florida, people often use SFN to keep up with the last hour of a countdown until after liftoff until the conclusion of launch activities. It’s not uncommon for spectators to have a Spaceflight Now livestream playing on their cellphone while they are watching the launch on the beach, beside the Indian River or even at Kennedy Space Center. If there is news, Spaceflight Now will be among the very first to share it.

Seeing What No One Else Can

Rockets travel far and fast, and after a liftoff, it’s never more than a couple of minutes before they are hard to see as a spectator on the ground with the naked eye. At night, after staging, one might see the launching rocket as a dot of light moving across the sky, but not much more than that. During the day, it’s even harder to see.

Pete Carsten’s tracking rig.
Photo: Pete Carstens

That’s where Pete Carstens and Max Q comes in. Using his gear, Pete can not only still see the rocket, he can also track a SpaceX booster’s “entry burn” from a couple hundred miles away

Photographers using the highest-end zoom lenses can’t often resolve a rocket that’s fifty miles (80 km) high and traveling a few thousand miles per hour even if they can capture great views of the engines’ flame plume.

How does he do it? “The main unit is a Kintec that has been refurbished by Ed Geiger,” Carstens said. Geiger is a legendary launch videographer who was one of the first to do what was previously the domain of NASA and the US Air Force—tracking rockets with huge telescopes purpose-fit for the task.

Starlink 10-6 from Kennedy Space Center as captured by Pete Carstens
Photo: via X

“It [the motorized telescope mount] is controlled manually by joystick,” Carstens tells us. “Mounted on it is a 12″ and 8″ telescope along with a 750mm lens as well as a wide lens that I use to acquire the rocket if it moves out of frame due to clouds. That’s four cameras mounted on the tracker.”

As far as cameras, Carstens says, “I’m currently using two Canon R5’s at 4k (can do 8k but overheating is an issue) and a 90D at 4k. I also use a stationary 90D with a 4″ telescope that I’ll use when at KSC for lift off at the launch pad at 120 FPS for slow motion clips.”

How Pete Got Started

Carstens, like many launch photographers, got his start when he moved to the Sunshine State. “I relocated to Florida with my job and family in 2019 and started photographing and taking videos immediately. It took me about one to two years to get my 14″ telescope to be able to track manually with the software provided by Astronomy Live. They can be found on X @astrofreg. I then partnered with US Launch Report and started using one of Ed Geiger’s trackers that he refurbished and have since also partnered with Spaceflight Now.”

Pete Carstens and Max Q Productions is completely mobile.
Photo courtesy: Pete Carstens

“I try to shoot every launch whether out at the Cape, or from my home on the Space Coast,” Carstens says. “Lately the only launches I miss are if I am out of town.”

That’s not always easy. Florida weather is notoriously fickle. It can be raining heavily in one spot, and as little as a single mile away, skies might be partly cloudy. “Weather can be a big issue and in the Florida summer months, it gets quite chaotic,” Carstens told us. “It can be clear at the launch pad and raining 5 miles away. I live about 20 miles south of Cape Canaveral and it can be a very different view from what is going on at the Cape with the guys at Spaceflight Now. It can work in my favor in that Cape Canaveral is completely socked in and clear down at my location.”

The control console for the Max Q Productions Kintec system
Courtesy: Pete Carstens

We asked what Pete’s favorite launches to capture are, and he said, “I would say any launch around sunset with clear skies are the best. Several launches have key moments that stand out but the Falcon Heavy USSF-67 mission on January 15, 2023 was pretty spectacular, even though my settings were a little off.”

Pete’s Tips To Hobbyist Photographers

We asked Carstens if he had any advice for amateur photographers trying to take good launch photographs. “Start with a good tripod and a good fluid mount or a 360-degree rotatable panoramic gimbal tripod head ball mount,” he said. “Also a good lens or ‘good glass’.”

An extreme example of “dirty air” or “shimmer.” The photograph is actually focused correctly, but differing refractive indices through 12 miles of Florida summer air caused the photo to be highly distorted.
Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN

Some other advice that Carstens offers is something that amateurs sometimes forget to do, and that’s to record their settings, the conditions at launch as well as the location where they took their photos. “Write down your camera settings for each launch as well as the time of day and conditions and adjust as needed and compare,” Carstens advises. “For instance, there is a huge difference if the sun is behind you vs in front of you. Also, time of year, summer brings humidity (dirty air) vs winter with less humidity (cleaner air) You really notice the difference with a highly magnified lens.”

That “dirty air” that Pete mentions is also called “heat distortion,” “shimmer,” or sometimes a “mirage.” Being that a photographer will always be several miles from the launch pad, the light from the rocket and the launch tower has to go a very long way to reach the camera. The temperature and humidity of the air varies over the length of the distance between the camera and rocket, and that changes its optical qualities very slightly. A good example that anyone should be familiar with is stars “twinkling” at night — that’s heat distortion. It’s the bane of launch photographers in Florida all summer.

Carstens’ advice about using good lenses is sage as well: rockets turn into tiny objects in the sky, and high-quality glass resolves them more clearly, resulting in a better photo. And that should be mounted to a solid tripod that’s steady, coupled with a camera mount that operates smoothly.

How To Follow Pete Carstens Online

If you’d like to keep up with Pete’s work, he told us that “I provide live launch tracking for Spaceflight Now on their live YouTube channel. I also post still images from the video and then edit together the different focal length shots to a video that I post on my YouTube channel at Max-Q Productions – (@maxqproductions1) and then post to the following Social sites, X – @CarstensPete, Instagram – @pete_carstens, Facebook – pete.carstens.56, [and on] TikTok – @petecarstens3.”

Give him a follow on one or more of those channels. If you enjoy incredible images of rockets in flight, you will be glad that you did.

October 4, 2024

ULA, Vulcan, Cert-2, October 4, 2024

United Launch Alliance successfully launched its second Vulcan rocket this morning from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The launch was not a perfect one, however, as Vulcan survived a very close call when one of the two solid-rocket boosters on the first stage partially failed and lost its nozzle in flight.

Despite a partial loss of thrust from the errant SRB, ULA’s flight software and engineering teams were able to make corrections to trajectory of the rocket as it continued to ascent.

October 4, 2024

Launch Report: ULA Launches Vulcan Cert-2, Vehicle Survives In-Flight SRB Failure

United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Cert-2 mission lifting off from Cape Canaveral this morning. — United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Cert-2 mission lifting off from Cape Canaveral this morning.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville

United Launch Alliance successfully launched its second Vulcan rocket this morning from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The launch was not a perfect one, however, as Vulcan survived a very close call when one of the two solid-rocket boosters on the first stage partially failed and lost its nozzle in flight.

Despite a partial loss of thrust from the errant SRB, ULA’s flight software and engineering teams were able to make corrections to trajectory of the rocket as it continued to ascent.

Later, ULA CEO Tory Bruno would say that the SRB had “an observation” and he added quickly that the mission was a success.

Vulcan uses Northrop Grumman-built GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters to provide additional thrust for the vehicle and to increase its capabilities. GEM motors have a long history of usage, and the 63XL edition was flying its third and fourth flights. Two other GEM 63XLs flew with no problem on Vulcan Cert-1.

Later on X.com, Tory Bruno stated, “All missions have propellant reserves. We add to that additional propellant margins based on the mass [and] the configuration of the rocket. Because this was compensated for within reserves, this anomaly was ‘invisible’ to the rocket.” Bruno credited “Robust design and well engineered avionics” for the resilience of Vulcan, and indeed, it is one of the very few rockets launched that had an SRB failure and still successfully completed their mission.

Launch Replay

Video starts at t-minus five minutes.

Next Launch:

The next launch from Florida is a tricky call: SpaceX and the FAA have “paused” Falcon family launches while the company investigates issues with Falcon 9s second stage — there was an “off-nominal” performance of the Crew 9 second stage after the astronauts had separated from the launch vehicle when the stage was relit to de-orbit and reenter Earth’s atmosphere.

At this time, SpaceX has not announced a return to flight for Falcon rockets, and the FAA has not yet released a safety determination on the Crew 9 event that would allow SpaceX to resume flights.

Both of those could come at any time, however, and given the short stand-downs earlier in the summer with other Falcon issues, odds are good that this delay will be shorter rather than longer.

Should SpaceX announce Falcon 9 returning to action, its next scheduled launch is for the European Space Agency and the Hera mission. According to ESA, “As part of the world’s first test of asteroid deflection, Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the target asteroid, Dimorphos – the orbiting moonlet of a binary asteroid system known as Didymos.”

“Now that NASA’s DART mission has impacted the moonlet, Hera will turn the grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defence technique. Demonstrating new technologies from autonomous navigation around an asteroid to low gravity proximity operations, Hera will be humankind’s first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system and Europe’s flagship Planetary Defender.”

Date: NET October 7, 2024
Organization: SpaceX / ESA
Mission: Hera
Rocket: Falcon 9
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Launch Window: 10:52 — 11:27 AM EDT
Payload: Hera probe

October 3, 2024

Launch Preview: ULA Plans To Launch Second Vulcan Certification Mission Friday

ULA Vulcan CERT-2 on the launch mount at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on October 3, 2024
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville

United Launch Alliance is planning to launch its second Vulcan rocket early tomorrow morning from Space Launch Complex 41. Liftoff is currently scheduled for 06:00 AM EDT, with a launch window that extends to 09:00 AM EDT the same day.

The launch is planned for about 75 minutes before sunrise, and if liftoff occurs before the sun peeks over the horizon, the expanding gases of the second stage may produce a spectacular display.

At A Glance

Mission: Cert-2
Date: NET October 4, 2024
Launch Window: 06:00 – 09:00 AM EDT
Weather: 80% Go during the primary launch window
Organization: United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Rocket: Vulcan (VCS2)
Trajectory: Easterward
Launch Site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Booster Landing: none
Payload: Scientific instruments and an inert payload
Destination: Heliocentric orbit

^{* consult the ULA website for the specific target for T-0.}

Launch Readiness Review Completed

ULA announced yesterday the mission has been cleared to proceed.

According to the company, “The LRR, led by ULA Launch Director Eric Richards, was completed this morning at the Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC).”

“Leadership from ULA and the Space Force assessed the readiness of the rocket, payload and mission assets, discussed the status of pre-flight processing work, heard technical overviews of the countdown and flight, and previewed the weather forecast that projects a 75 percent chance of meeting the launch rules.”

“At the conclusion of the meeting, senior leaders were polled and gave a ready status for launch, then signed the Launch Readiness Certificate.”

Weather

The 45th Weather Squadron has listed a 20% Probability of Violation for tomorrow’s launch, which means that the weather is expected to be 80% GO at launch time.

Payload

In this case, the mission is the payload.

CERT-2 is designed to be the second and final demonstration flight of Vulcan. The key objective for CERT-2 is to validate the performance of the Vulcan rocket and to demonstrate to the Department of Defense that the Vulcan flight system is ready for national defense and surveillance payloads.

Aside from the flight characteristics and performance of the Blue Origin BE-4 booster, ULA will also gauge the performance of its Centaur V upper stage. The stage was redesigned for Vulcan and proving its abilities and reliability is also a critical piece of the certification process.

CERT-2 was originally scheduled to carry the Sierra Space Dream Chaser ‘Tenacity’ on its maiden flight, but ULA was forced to switch to an inert payload for CERT-2 due to Dream Chaser not being ready for flight. Dream Chaser is currently scheduled to fly sometime in 2025, but no launch date has been announced. Currently, the spacecraft is at Kennedy Space Center undergoing flight preparations.

Trajectory

Eastwards, relatively speaking. Vulcan is destined for a heliocentric orbit around the sun, so it will take a path that lines up with the equator.

Online Viewing

SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.com will have a livestream of the launch if you’re not able to watch the launch in person: Livestream

ULA will have a livestream of the launch on their website: ULA Cert-2 Mission Page. This will also be available on the Youtube platform. Coverage will start about about twenty minutes prior to liftoff.

Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link

For official updates regarding launch times, ULA’s Cert-2 Mission Page is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.

Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.

Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.

Launch Viewing: In Person

Given that this is a launch from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-41, Jetty Park, The Banana River Bridge and southern Titusville Parks are your best bets.

Cocoa Beach and the northern Titusville parks will have an excellent view as well.

October 2, 2024

Vulcan CERT-1 Revisited

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.

September 30, 2024

ULA Rolls Second Vulcan Rocket To Its Launch Mount

United Launch Alliance's CERT-2 rocket on its way to the launch mount at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on September 30, 2024.
Photo: United Launch Alliance — United Launch Alliance’s CERT-2 rocket on its way to the launch mount at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on September 30, 2024.
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.

United Launch Alliance's Vulcan CERT-1 lifting off on January 8, 2024. — United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan CERT-1 lifting off on January 8, 2024. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville

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.

The United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket is transported from the Vertical Integration Facility-G (VIF-G) to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for the second certification mission (Cert-2). Photo credit: United Launch Alliance