Enlarge / Delta IV Heavy on the pad with NROL-68 at SLC-37B on June 20, 2023. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)
Once the most formidable rocket company in the United States, and arguably the world, United Launch Alliance has had a really difficult start to this year.
At the beginning of 2023, the company's CEO, Tory Bruno, expressed confidence that the long-awaited Vulcan rocket would make its debut flight in May. During a teleconference with reporters, Bruno even went so far as to say that by the end of 2025, his company would launch a rocket every other week.
But those plans came crashing down in late March when a large explosion occurred on a test stand at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, where United Launch Alliance was pressure testing the upper stage of the Vulcan rocket. As part of the qualification test, the liquid hydrogen tank ruptured. Now Vulcan's debut has slipped into at least late summer and may not take place until the final months of this year.
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