NASA Updates Coverage, Invites Public to Virtually Join Starliner Launch
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NASA Updates Coverage, Invites Public to Virtually Join Starliner Launch
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ULA is gearing up to load fuel into its Vulcan rocket for the first time
Shane McGlaun - May 22, 2021, 11:54am CDT
ULA (United Launch Alliance) is aiming over the next couple of weeks to begin loading cryogenic fuels aboard its massive Vulcan rocket. The rocket uses cryogenic methane and liquid oxygen as propellants. The test is critical for developing the next-generation rocket between flights of Atlas 5 rockets that will share the same launch complex in the coming years. Currently, ULA is using pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
ULA’s primary rocket is currently the Atlas 5, which is fully operational. The Vulcan Centaur rocket is more powerful and uses a quartet of BE-4 first-stage engines supplied by Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. ULA expects that the first Vulcan rocket will be ready to launch by the end of 2021. That timeframe was given by ULA chief operating officer John Elbon in early May.
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A pathfinder core stage fr ULA’s Vulcan rocket on pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station earlier this year. The Vertical Integration Facility is pictured in the background.. Credit: United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance could load cryogenic methane and liquid oxygen propellants into a Vulcan rocket test article at Cape Canaveral for the first time in the coming weeks, timing key tests for the next-generation rocket in between flights of Atlas 5 rockets that will share the same launch complex for the next few years.