SpaceX rival United Launch Alliance is making final preparations ahead of the first launch of its new Vulcan rocket.
Vulcan, which will be the successor to ULA's Delta 4 and Atlas 5 rockets, will transport a commercial lunar lander on its journey to the lunar surface, as well as a mission carrying cremated human remains into deep space.
The flight test launch is scheduled for early Monday from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission flight window opens at 2:18 a.m. ET. Friday's forecast shows an 85% chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch, according to ULA.
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There are two CERT-1 flight test payloads. After separating from the Vulcan booster stage, the Centaur rocket's upper stage will place Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander into an orbit more than 220,000 miles above Earth, where it will intercept the Moon. The Peregrine mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface.
Centaur will then carry a Celestis Memorial Spaceflights payload into deep space. The mission, dubbed Enterprise Flight, includes 234 flight capsules containing cremated remains, DNA samples and messages, ULA said.
Portions of the cremated remains of several “Star Trek” icons, including creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols, are on board the Enterprise, as well as the DNA of Presidents George Washington, John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower. according to Heavenly. DNA from late presidents is found in hair samples, the Houston Chronicle reported.
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A separate Celestis payload, dubbed Quiet Flight, will fly to the Moon aboard the Peregrine lunar lander.
Celestis did not respond to a request for comment.
ULA was created in 2006 as a joint venture between Boeing Co. BA,
Lockheed Martin LMT,
Since then, the company's Delta and Atlas rockets have been used to send more than 150 missions into orbit.
Vulcan's boost propulsion is provided by a pair of BE-4 engines manufactured by Blue Origin, the space rocket company founded by Amazon.com Inc. AMZN,
Founder Jeff Bezos.
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The BE-4 engines use liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas, a commercially available form of methane. Unlike other rocket propellants, such as kerosene, LNG eliminates the need for expensive and complex compression systems, such as those using helium, which are increasingly in scarce supply, according to ULA.
ULA had initially planned to launch Vulcan for the first time last May, but that was postponed when the Vulcan rocket's upper stage malfunctioned during testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama in March, according to Space.com.
The company later planned to launch Vulcan in the early hours of Christmas Eve, but was delayed again to January 8 to correct what ULA CEO Torey Bruno described as “routine” ground issues.
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Two solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, will provide additional thrust for Vulcan's maiden flight. ULA's new rocket can integrate up to six Northrop Grumman Corp. rockets.
srps.
