
Game over! NO launch for ULA new rocket... Starship first!
Game over! NO launch for ULA new rocket... Starship first!
@dedztbh : https://twitter.com/dedztbh
Devastating news for ULA!! But why does Vulcan Centaur matter?
After nearly a decade of research and development, ULA's Vulcan was supposed to have a launch in July 2023.
It appeared that everything would proceed smoothly when Tony Bruno proudly publicly demonstrated the engine test of the Vulcan rocket on social media.
Unfortunately, there is another huge problem! Its Centaur upper stage is still stuck.
So, at this point, the Vulcan rocket is definitely not flying, at least until next year. It's an extreme shame for ULA that Starship can overtake Vulcan in orbit!
This is devastating news for ULA!
Where is the future of ULA's rocket?
Is there any chance to beat SpaceX?
Stay tuned as we dive into these questions and more in this episode of Alpha Tech!
In a brief statement early June 24, they announced it had figured out what went wrong, and what needs fixing at its Alabama test facility that resulted in a fireball that damaged a test article of the Centaur V upper stage this spring.
"Centaur's thin-walled pressure stabilized tanks require minor reinforcement at the top of the forward dome prior to flight," the company stated in a press release.
That means the Centaur currently mated to the Vulcan first stage at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that is tapped to fly on that rocket's first mission has to head back to Alabama.
The first and second stages recently completed a Flight Readiness Firing test at Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41, and ULA said the results of that hot fire hit all of the test objectives.
But now teams will de-stack the combined rocket and send Centaur V to ULA's Decatur, Alabama facility for the fix while the first-stage booster will be stored at ULA's Horizontal Integration Facility at Canaveral waiting for its return.
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Game over! NO launch for ULA new rocket... Starship first!
