The US Space Force is still dealing with the near-term implications of the second grounding of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket in less than two years. The experience is likely to influence how the Pentagon buys launch services in the future, a three-star general said Tuesday.
The Vulcan rocket is one of the two primary launch vehicles the Space Force uses to put satellites into orbit, alongside SpaceX's Falcon 9. Despite a backlog of nearly 70 launches, ULA's Vulcan has flown just four times since debuting in January 2024.
On two of those flights, the Vulcan launcher suffered anomalies with one of its solid rocket boosters. One of the booster's exhaust nozzles blew off in the first incident in October 2024. The same problem appeared to occur again on a Vulcan launch in February of this year. The rocket continued flying after both incidents, ultimately reaching each mission's targeted orbit.
