SpaceX competitor United Launch Alliance launched its new Vulcan rocket early Monday.
The rocket, the successor to ULA's Delta IV and Atlas V rockets, will carry the first commercial lunar lander on its journey to the lunar surface, as well as a mission carrying cremated human remains into deep space.
The CERT-1 flight test marks an important milestone for United Launch Alliance, which was founded in 2006 as a joint venture between Boeing Co.
Lockheed Martin LMT,
Since then, the company's Delta and Atlas rockets have been used to send more than 150 missions into orbit.
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Vulcan lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. ET. The Vulcan booster stage separated a few minutes later, sending the Centaur rocket's upper stage on its flight to put Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander into an orbit more than 220,000 miles above Earth, where it will intercept the moon. The Peregrine spacecraft separated from the Centaur upper stage 51 minutes after launch.
“So far, this has been a very impressive mission,” ULA CEO Torey Bruno said during a live stream of the launch.
Astrobotic confirmed that it was receiving telemetry data from the Peregrine spacecraft about an hour into the mission. The Peregrine mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface.
Peregrine, which carries NASA scientific instruments to study the lunar surface, is expected to land on the moon on February 23, 2024.
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Centaur also carries a payload from the Celestis Memorial Spaceflights into deep space. The Celestis mission launches more than 200 flight capsules containing cremated remains, DNA samples and letters of greetings from customers around the world into deep space, ULA said. Portions of the cremated remains of several “Star Trek” icons, including creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James “Scotty” Doohan and Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Commander Nyota Uhura, are on board the Enterprise, as well as DNA from 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.
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.
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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.
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 Bruno described as “routine” ground issues.
Two solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, provided additional thrust for Vulcan's maiden flight. ULA's new rocket can integrate up to six Northrop Grumman Corp. rockets.
srps.
