Centaur Upper Stage Delays ULA Vulcan Maiden Flight

United Launch Alliance (ULA) has announced further delays for the inaugural launch of its Vulcan Centaur rocket due to necessary modifications to the Centaur upper stage.

Following an investigation into an anomaly during a test in March, ULA identified the root cause and determined that minor reinforcements are required at the top of the forward dome of the Centaur's thin-walled pressure tanks. As a result, the Centaur upper stage will be removed from the Vulcan booster and sent back to ULA's factory in Decatur, Alabama for the modifications. The Vulcan booster will remain stored at Cape Canaveral.

ULA did not provide a specific timeline for completing the modifications, rescheduling the launch, or completing qualification testing, but the company plans to host a media teleconference in the coming weeks to provide more details.

In a previous interview, ULA's President and CEO, Tory Bruno, stated that if no modifications were needed, the Cert-1 launch was expected to take place in early summer. However, any modifications to the Centaur could result in further delays, although Bruno did not anticipate the launch extending beyond the current year.

In related news, ULA recently completed the Flight Readiness Firing, a major test for Vulcan, which involved a static-fire test of the rocket's BE-4 engines on the pad. ULA reported successful achievement of all test objectives based on the review of data from the firing.

Once launched, the Cert-1 mission will carry Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander as its primary payload. Additionally, the rocket will deploy two prototype satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband constellation and a payload for Celestis, a company specializing in space memorials.