Spaceflight Now by William Harwood October 4, 2024
United Launch Alliance fired off a next-generation Vulcan rocket Friday in the second of two “certification” test flights needed before the new launcher can be used to carry high-priority national security payloads for the U.S. Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.
One of two solid-propellant strap-on boosters provided by Northrop Grumman suffered an anomaly of some sort during the climb out of the lower atmosphere, but the Vulcan managed to continue on into orbit. What impact the issue might have on the Vulcan’s certification is not yet known, but ULA CEO Tory Bruno said it will be investigated.
“The trajectory was nominal throughout,” he said on the company’s launch webcast. “We did, however have an observation on SRB No. 1, so we will be off looking at that after the mission is complete.” No other details were provided.
The Vulcan’s two Blue Origin-built BE-4 engines and twin solid rocket boosters, or SRBs thundered to life at 7:25 a.m. EDT, shattering the morning calm with the crackling roar of 2 million pounds of thrust.
The 202-foot-tall, 1.5-million-pound rocket, decked out in a swirling red-and-white livery, climbed skyward from launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, rapidly accelerating out of the dense lower atmosphere on an easterly trajectory.
The apparent booster anomaly could be seen in long-range tracking camera views when a shower of sparks and what looked like debris fell away from the right-side SRB 37 seconds after liftoff. The problem appeared to originate at or near the nozzle at the base of the booster. The exhaust plume changed shape dramatically, but the Vulcan was able to continue its climb to space.
The anomaly aside, the strap-on boosters burned out and were jettisoned about 20 seconds later than planned. The methane-burning BE-4s, each one generating 550,000 pounds of thrust, continued boosting the rocket out of the lower atmosphere for another three minutes or so before shutting down.
More:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/10/04/ula-launches-second-vulcan-flight-encounters-strap-on-booster-anomaly/
