ULA Vulcan launch suffers fiery booster issue but makes it to space, company says

United Launch Alliance suffered yet another fiery burn-through on one of its solid rocket boosters during a national security mission Thursday.

The Vulcan rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 4:22 a.m. on the USSF-87 mission for the Space Force, ULA’s first launch of the year and only its fourth launch of a Vulcan.

Video of the rocket’s flight showed problems with one of the four GEM 63XL boosters, which are built by Northrop Grumman. The normal plume of propellant could be seen burning through the nozzle area at the booster’s base, followed by a series of sparks blasting away from the rocket as it climbed on its way through the dark Florida skies before sunrise.

“We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors, the team is currently reviewing the data,” ULA said in a statement. “The booster, upper stage, and spacecraft continued to perform on a nominal trajectory.”

This isn’t the first time ULA, which is a shared venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has had an issue with these boosters. The second flight of Vulcan in 2024 suffered a similar burn-through on one of its booster rocket nozzles, which are built to direct the propellant down and away from the main rocket’s first stage.

That issue caused further delays to Vulcan’s certification by the Space Force, which only approved it to fly national security flights after a six-month review.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that since this was a government mission, not subject to a license by the FAA, the Space Force would direct any decision of whether the rocket would need to be grounded or require a mishap investigation.

Vulcan, a successor to ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV class of rockets, originally was targeting a debut as early as 2019, but faced a series of delays due to COVID, the development of brand new engines from supplier Blue Origin and an explosion on a test pad.

It finally debuted in January 2024 with a follow-up mission later that year, during which it had the issue with the Northrop Grumman booster. Vulcan’s main BE-4 engines, though, were powerful enough to compensate for the damage during flight.

Former ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno, who has since left the company for a job at Blue Origin, said at the time the booster problem was due to a manufacturing defect that had been corrected.

After the delayed certification, Vulcan flew its first national security mission in August 2025 without issue, and the company had been keen to begin knocking out a backlog of 25 Department of Defense and National Reconnaissance Office missions, some of which are three years behind schedule.

Despite the booster issue, ULA said the boosters were able to break away from the main rocket after about 90 seconds. The BE-4 engines continued to propel the first stage for another five minutes to get the upper Centaur stage on the proper trajectory to near-geostationary orbit, which is at more than 22,000 miles altitude above Earth.

The rocket was carrying multiple payloads for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command including the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program spacecraft, which was also built by Northrop Grumman.

It’s designed to support U.S. Space Command’s space surveillance operations, but is a demonstration system designed to test new technologies, adding to the nation’s Space Surveillance Network.

“They provide ‘neighborhood watch’ services in the geostationary Earth arena, improving flight safety for all spacefaring nations operating in that orbit,” according to a release from Space Systems Command.

The network allows tracking of what the command said is an “increasingly crowded” space, which then speeds up “USSF space operators’ ability to warn others if another object is anticipated to approach too closely or creates a hazardous situation.”

A secondary spacecraft on board was carrying multiple payloads, although exact details were not released by the Space Force.

“In addition to the GSSAP payload, USSF-87 will include additional research, development and training systems. Guardians will use these systems to refine tactics, techniques and procedures for precision on-orbit maneuvers,” Space Systems Command stated. “These systems will also enhance and validate resiliency and protection in geosynchronous orbit.”

The mission was the heaviest yet flown by Vulcan, and one with the longest timeline with nearly 10 hours between launch and final deployment of its payloads.

ULA had planned to increse its Vulcan launch pace in 2026 after having only flown five missions, mostly Atlas V rockets, in both 2025 and 2024. The company had been targeting at least 20 missions for the year.

ULA’s plans for its next flights include the first Vulcan launch for commercial customer Amazon, which has 38 flights planned on the rocket to expand its Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, constellation of satellites that are designed to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.

They are among ULA’s backlog of at least 70 missions among national security and commercial contracts.

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