United Launch Alliance said the ula vulcan rocket launch lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 at 4:22 a.m. on the USSF-87 mission and showed a visible burn through on one of four solid boosters.
Video of the flight showed propellant plume burning through a nozzle area at the booster base, followed by sparks as the vehicle climbed before sunrise, reporters observed.
ULA said in a statement that "We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors. The team is currently reviewing the data," and that the booster, upper stage, and spacecraft continued on a nominal trajectory.
The boosters are GEM 63XL solid motors built by Northrop Grumman, and ULA said the damaged boosters separated about 90 seconds after liftoff while BE-4 engines continued to power the first stage for another five minutes.
The company said the upper Centaur stage reached the proper trajectory for near-geostationary orbit, and that the rocket carried multiple payloads for Space Systems Command including the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program spacecraft.
Background And Implications
This was ULA's first launch of the year and only its fourth Vulcan flight, and it was the heaviest mission yet flown by Vulcan with nearly 10 hours between launch and final payload deployment.
ULA previously experienced a similar burn through on a Vulcan flight in 2024. Former ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno said at the time the booster problem was due to a manufacturing defect that had been corrected.
The Federal Aviation Administration said because this was a government mission not subject to an FAA license, the Space Force will direct any decision about grounding the rocket or ordering a mishap investigation, the agency said.
Space Systems Command described the GSSAP spacecraft as a demonstration system to support US Space Command space surveillance, providing "neighborhood watch" services in geostationary orbit, and noted a secondary spacecraft carried additional research, development and training systems.
ULA has said it planned to increase Vulcan launches in 2026 to address a backlog of roughly 25 Department of Defense and National Reconnaissance Office missions, and the company has at least 70 missions on its manifest including commercial flights for Amazon.
