United Launch Alliance (ULA) briefly test-fired the first-stage engines on its new Vulcan Centaur rocket on Wednesday evening (June 7), completing a crucial milestone for the booster’s first flight.

WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) CEO reaffirmed a May 2023 flight date for the maiden flight of the company’s new rocket; SpaceX and Rocket Lab officials laid out plans for record launch years; and a Blue Origin executive said Jeff Bezos’ company might never reveal what caused one of its rockets to explode last year.

WASHINGTON — During a panel discussion at Satellite 2023 Conference on Wednesday afternoon, United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tory Bruno predicted there would be a shake out among small launch providers over the next 24 months that could leave only one or two companies standing. CNBC reports that process might have already begun earlier in the day with Richard Branson’s struggling launch provider.

Credit: Par SeanMichealClemes — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117737080

United Launch Alliance (ULA) has set May 4 as the date for the maiden launch of its new Vulcan rocket. The flight will launch Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine spacecraft to land on the Moon as well as two other payloads.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (United Launch Alliance PR) — Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) have accepted the company’s new three-year contract offer. This concludes the 2022 contract negotiation process that began several weeks ago.

The new contract covers more than 600 bargaining unit employees from District Lodges #75 and #166, which includes Locals #44, #610 and #2786 performing work on the Atlas V, Delta IV and Vulcan Centaur product lines at both East and West Coast ULA launch sites and the Decatur, Alabama, manufacturing facility. The contract became effective at 12:01 a.m. on May 2. Negotiations on the new contract officially started April 11 and ended April 21, and the May 1 ratification vote was held in all geographical locations covered by this contract. 

CENTENNIAL, Colo., April 5, 2022 (ULA PR) – United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced today that Amazon has selected its next-generation Vulcan rocket for 38 launches supporting deployment for its ambitious Project Kuiper, Amazon’s initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 advanced satellites in low Earth orbit. 

CENTENNIAL, Colo., Feb. 15, 2022 (ULA Press Release) – United Launch Alliance announced today that it has contracted with Milling Precision in Wichita, Kan., to supply components for its Atlas V rocket. The Atlas V rocket has launched 90 times with payloads for the Department of Defense, NASA and commercial customers.

Star Trek First Family Embarks on Final, Infinite Journey on a Rocket Named Vulcan

HOUSTON, January 26, 2022 (Celestis PR) — Celestis, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a launch services agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Centennial, CO. ULA will host a Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payload aboard the initial flight of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, planned for later this year. Known as the Enterprise Flight (celestis.com/launch-schedule/enterprise-flight), the Celestis mission will launch more than 150 flight capsules containing cremated remains (ashes), DNA samples, and messages of greetings from clients worldwide on an endless journey in interplanetary space.

HAMPTON, Va. (NASA PR) — A NASA technology that could one day help land humans on Mars is about to head into final integration and testing before a sub-orbital flight test next year.

Two key components of the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) are complete and recently arrived at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. At Langley, engineers will test the complete system to ensure LOFTID is flight ready.

In a recent report, the GAO — Government Accountability Office — had reported technical issues with the Blue Origin produced BE-4 engine that will power United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. Vulcan Centaur’s first flight will launch Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine on a mission to land on the moon. That flight was scheduled for the end of 2021, but it has slipped into next year due to COVID-19 pandemic related […]