An update to my earlier post on United Launch Alliance targeting Friday, Nov. 13, for Vulcan Centaur’s return to flight (linked below). Space.com reports the launch has slipped to Saturday, Nov. 14, at 12:32 p.m. Eastern / 11:32 a.m. Chicago time, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. ULA blamed a power issue in a liquid gaseous nitrogen factory that pumps propellant into the rocket, and said “the vehicle and spacecraft are healthy.” Space.com will carry ULA’s livestream, with coverage starting 20 minutes before liftoff.
The payload is still 40 Amazon Leo internet satellites, Amazon’s first flight on Vulcan after eight on Atlas V. This will be Vulcan’s first flight in nine months. The rocket has had solid-rocket-booster nozzle problems on two earlier missions, and the Space Force paused national-security flights on it until ULA addressed that. ULA has said this launch will use an improved nozzle design.
My take
A Saturday slip for a ground-side power problem, with the vehicle itself called healthy, is the boring kind of delay, and I’ll take boring. I’ll be watching Saturday late morning, still hoping for a clean flight and a nozzle that stays where it belongs.
God Bless, and Use the Source!
