ULA’s Vulcan II rocket lost part of its booster and continued to move

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, under contract for dozens of flights for the U.S. Army and Amazon’s Kuiper Broadband Network, blasted off from Florida on its second test flight on Friday, suffered a malfunction in one of its boosters, and still achieved a successful launch. The company said in a statement.

This test flight, known as Cert-2, is the second certification mission for the new Vulcan rocket, an accomplishment that paves the way for the Space Force to clear ULA’s new rocket to begin launching national security satellites in the coming months.

While ULA said the Vulcan rocket continued to hit its marks while climbing into orbit on Friday, engineers are investigating what happened with one of the solid rocket boosters shortly after liftoff.

After canceling the countdown at the last minute earlier in the morning, the 202-foot (61.6 m) Vulcan rocket ignited its twin methane-fueled BE-4 engines and two side-mounted solid rocket boosters for a climb away from Cape Canaveral. Power Station, Florida, 7:25 a.m. EST (11:25 UTC) Friday.

Slight tilt

As the rocket rocketed east from Cape Canaveral, a shower of sparks suddenly appeared at the base of the Vulcan rocket about 37 seconds into the mission. The exhaust plume from one of the belt boosters, made by Northrop Grumman, changed noticeably, and the rocket tilted slightly on its axis before the guidance system and main engines corrected the steering.

Videos from the launch show the booster nozzle, the bell-shaped exhaust exit cone located at the bottom of the booster, falling away from the rocket.

“It sounds dramatic, like all the things on the rocket. But it’s just the nozzle firing. There were no explosions,” Bruno wrote on X.

During the ascent of a Vulcan rocket #cert2 During the mission, there appeared to be a problem with the solid rocket booster on the right side of the vehicle as seen from KSC’s press site. However, the Centaur was able to reach orbit.https://t.co/3iwWLVWZHp

📹: @ABernNYC pic.twitter.com/5h06ffNMXr

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 4, 2024

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial space launches in the United States, said in a statement that it had evaluated the defect in the booster and “determined that no investigation is warranted at this time.” The FAA is not responsible for regulating anomalies in launch vehicles unless they affect public safety.