Vulcan Centaur Reaches Orbit Despite Booster Anomaly

On February 12, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket successfully reached orbit despite a performance anomaly involving one of its four solid rocket boosters. The booster experienced a burn-through of its nozzle during ascent, leading to its detachment in fragments.

Anomaly Details and Context

This incident marks the fourth launch of the Vulcan Centaur, ULA's successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. It is the second occurrence of a booster anomaly, with a previous nozzle shedding during a 2024 launch.

Mission Achieves Objectives

Despite the anomaly, the mission achieved its objective, successfully delivering the US Space Force payload directly to geosynchronous orbit.

The rocket's systems counteracted the asymmetric thrust caused by the booster issue, maintaining the planned trajectory.

ULA Commits to Investigation

ULA plans to investigate the cause of the burn-through before future Vulcan missions. These include those for Amazon's Leo (Project Kuiper) payloads, which are scheduled to ramp up in 2026.

Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Atlas and Vulcan Programs, stated that a thorough investigation will be conducted to identify the root cause and implement necessary corrective actions.

About the Vulcan Centaur

The Vulcan Centaur is a heavy-lift launch vehicle. It is powered by two Blue Origin BE-4 engines on its first stage, supplemented by up to six GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters.

Concurrent Launch Activity

On the same day, Arianespace also launched the first four-booster configuration of its Ariane 6 rocket without incident, deploying 32 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit.