2 minute read•Updated 3:05 AM EDT, Fri March 29, 2024
ULA is now officially targeting May 4th for the maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur.
Vulcan readiness, based on BE-4 qualifications timeline is currently tracking toward middle of April but due to the Peregrine moon lander's trajectory requirements launch will slip to May 4th.
Countdown to Launch Timeline
1) Rollout to SLC-41
2) Tanking Test
3) Wed Dress Rehearsal
4) Wet Dress Rehearsal with Flight Readiness Firing
5) Launch
BE-4 Engine Pump
While all pre-qualification BE-4 engines performed essentially the same, one of the two qualification engines' oxygen pumps was performing about 5% better than expected. Testing was paused to make sure this was well understood. This was determined to be within normal unit-to-unit variation, and testing will resume in a few days.
Payload Preparations
Amazon's Kuiper Sats and Celestis Payloads are both on track to be ready for the May 4th launch date.
Astrobotic has finished their testing at NASA Marshall of their Peregrine Lunar Lander. It is now back at Astrobotic processing facility in Pittsburgh and will soon be shipped to Cape Canaveral for launch processing.
Future Launches
ULA Targeting two Vulcan launches this year, 4 in 2024 and by the end of 2025 launch cadence of once every two weeks!
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ULA Teleconference with Tory Bruno is in progress and article will be updated as information is shared.
