United Launch Alliance (ULA) is starting launch processing for its long-awaited national security launch debut after investigating an issue that affected Vulcan’s second mission — a mission required for certification to fly national security missions. ULA will also start flying other Vulcan configurations than the VC2S, which includes two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and a standard fairing, that were used for the rocket’s first two flights.
A large part of a nozzle from one of the two GEM-63XL SRBs on the second Vulcan flight in October 2024 detached due to a manufacturing defect, forcing the rocket to heavily compensate during ascent. The mission reached orbit despite the anomaly, and ULA and Northrop Grumman isolated the root cause and have taken corrective actions to address the issue.