TheSpaceBucket Apr 9, 2023
United Launch Alliance has been very busy over the last couple of months as they prepare for the first orbital test flight of Vulcan. The recent work has included stacking the rocket, moving it to the pad, and performing some initial testing ahead of the flight readiness firing. Currently scheduled for early May, there is still quite a bit of work left before this rocket takes off.
Unfortunately, the recent explosion of a separate Centaur upper stage at a test stand is not helping. Initially, we learned that an anomaly occurred while testing this stage. Only days ago, more information and images came out that showed the extent of this mishap. While this doesn’t directly affect the first flight of Vulcan, it does bring up some concerns and could add delays.
This comes in addition to more work needed on the main test article and new developments with the payloads. All of which factors into the rocket’s launch date which has already been pushed back a decent bit. Here I will go more in-depth into the recent upper-stage explosion, the first flight of Vulcan, what to expect in the coming weeks, and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmsuqm6Tp0I
