U.S. Space Launch and Defense

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket launching a classified U.S. Space Force mission from Cape Canaveral early Thursday suffered what appeared to be a burn‑through in the nozzle of one of its four GEM 63XL solid strap‑on boosters about 20 seconds after liftoff, with cameras capturing a sideways jet of flame. ULA acknowledged an "observation" on one solid rocket motor and said the core stage, upper stage and spacecraft all continued to perform "nominally" during ascent, though the vehicle also went into a noticeable roll before the boosters were jettisoned and the motion damped out. Because the payloads, led by a Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellite built by Northrop Grumman, are classified, the public webcast was cut off shortly after upper‑stage ignition and no further status updates are expected until after the roughly 10‑hour mission. This is Vulcan’s fourth flight and second Space Force launch, and follows a prior nozzle‑failure investigation on the second certification mission; ULA has been counting on up to 16–18 Vulcan launches this year to replace its Atlas V and retired Delta IV boosters. The apparent repeat of a solid‑booster nozzle problem raises fresh reliability questions for a rocket the Pentagon is leaning on for future national‑security payloads and could complicate an already aggressive 2026 launch schedule if fixes are needed.