After Vulcan’s otherwise successful second certification mission (Cert-2) on Oct. 4, 2024, was marred by a nozzle separation on one of the rocket’s GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, questions arose about how and whether this would impact Vulcan’s certification for national security missions. The third Vulcan flight was supposed to start the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) launch schedule for 2025, but it has now been replaced by an Atlas V mission flying a Kuiper payload.
On Thursday, Feb. 13, as part of the investigation of the “observation” on Vulcan’s Cert-2 flight, Northrop Grumman (NGC) and ULA conducted a test firing of a GEM-63XL motor at NGC’s facility in Promontory, Utah. This firing, conducted during a winter storm that dropped inches of snow in the area, appears to have been successful, although the test results were still being analyzed.