ULA sets November 13 return to flight for Vulcan rocket with Amazon Leo launch
United Launch Alliance announced it plans to resume Vulcan launches on November 13, nine months after a solid rocket booster nozzle failure in February disrupted its schedule. The mission will carry 40 satellites for Amazon's Leo broadband constellation, the first of 38 Vulcan flights booked by Amazon, and will fly with a redesigned booster nozzle pending range approval.
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The flight is a key test for ULA's credibility after two nozzle failures shook confidence at the Space Force, which relies on Vulcan for roughly half its major national security launches through the early 2030s. A successful launch could validate ULA's engineering fixes and unlock both the backlogged Amazon contract and renewed military missions, while another anomaly would likely deepen scrutiny of the rocket's reliability.
- Vulcan's return-to-flight mission is scheduled for November 13, carrying 40 Amazon Leo satellites.
- The launch follows a February booster nozzle failure that grounded Vulcan and shook Space Force confidence.
- ULA says it has redesigned the nozzle and will gather flight data to validate fixes during this mission.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-10-28
Published there as: “ULA's Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday the 13th”
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