Vulcan

We’re soon closing the chapter on the first quarter of 2025, and so far the only companies in the headlines for launches have been SpaceX and Rocket Lab, with other companies like Firefly soon to follow. However, SpaceX’s supposed competitor has been nowhere, still waiting on final work from the Space Force that its Vulcan rocket is cleared to launch the missions it was contracted to do. So when might ULA, Vulcan, or Atlas finally launch next?

It has been a busy year full of rocket launches, broken records, and new developments. While years past have been about the possibilities of what is to come, 2024 was about seeing those renderings come to life. Here are our top developments stories from 2024.

For Vulcan. The year it debuted and the year it began flying national security missions. While it debuted, and flew a few times, delays to its certification have pushed that second goal to 2025.

National Security Space Launch missions.

It will be another quiet week with Space Force.

U.S. Space Force.

On Saturday ULA received its second Vulcan rocket at Cape Canaveral from its factory in Alabama. This marks the start of a second launch campaign to certify the launch vehicle for national security missions. Then today, ULA announced that its next mission will fly an inert payload instead of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser due to scheduling delays.

ULA Amazon‘s Kuiper satellite constellation plays in Vulcan’s launch services.

At 2:18:38 A.M. ET Monday morning, NASA‘s new exploration of the Moon.

Early Monday morning Elon Musk? Well after a prediction made over five years ago, he’s now safe from an eating your hat moment.

In a post on social media, Vulcan, has been delayed to NET January 8. This comes after a wet dress rehearsal that wasn’t completed in full due to ground system faults. Another dress rehearsal will be required before launch.

The historic RL10 rocket engine, built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, is getting a big upgrade after operating for almost six decades. Using additive manufacturing, Aerojet hopes to bring new life and increased production to the engine that helped humans first reach for the stars.

Vulcan rocket ready to launch with stacking a new Centaur V second stage on top of its booster at Cape Canaveral. This stage was rebuilt after one failed during a static fire earlier this year due to an unknown structural fault.

Early Friday morning, Astrobotic’s first lunar lander departed its offices in Pittsburgh for a drive down to Florida to be integrated onto the Atlas V for launch as soon as December. A flight the company has been waiting to do for years.

In an interview with SpaceX on.

After long delays due to engines and the rocket’s Centaur upper stage, ULA finally has given a launch date for when it thinks it can launch its new Vulcan rocket. In an interview with CNBC, ULA CEO Tory Bruno shared the date and a lot of other company updates we’ll expand upon in future articles.

Amazon is switching rockets for its inaugural Kuiper satellite launch while maintaining the same launch provider. In late September, two Kuiper test satellites are set to be launched into orbit aboard the second Atlas V launch of the year.

Wednesday evening, ULA completed a short start-up of the two Blue Origin BE-4 engines on the bottom of its Vulcan rocket at SLC-41. This was part of a final test before getting the rocket ready to fly its first mission later this year.

In case you missed it, on March 29, a test article for the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Centaur V experienced an anomaly that resulted in a fireball. This occurring just over a month before the upper stage’s launch, then set for May 4.

Early November 10, ULA launched an Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Station. The mission carried JPSS-2 and an inflatable decelerator to prove the systems to and gather data on this unique type of heat shield.