ULA’s Vulcan rocket still doesn’t have the Space Force’s seal of approval
Last October, United Launch Alliance started stacking its third Vulcan rocket on a mobile launch platform in Florida in preparation for a mission for the US Space Force by the end of the year.
That didn’t happen, and ULA is still awaiting the Space Force’s formal certification of its new rocket, further pushing out delivery schedules for numerous military satellites booked to fly to orbit on the Vulcan launcher.
Now, several months after stacking the next Vulcan rocket, ULA has started taking it apart. First reported by Spaceflight Now, the “de-stacking” will clear ULA’s vertical hangar for assembly of an Atlas V rocket—the Vulcan’s predecessor—to launch the first batch of operational satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper Internet constellation.
