Moments after liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast Thursday morning, a shower of sparks emerged in the exhaust plume of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket. A few seconds later, the rocket turned on its axis before recovering and continuing to climb into orbit with a batch of US military satellites.
This scene may sound familiar to experienced rocket observers. Sixteen months ago, a Vulcan rocket lost one of its booster nozzles shortly after launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket recovered from the malfunction and still reached the mission’s planned orbit.
Details of Thursday’s booster problem remain unclear. According to ULA, a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the matter is under investigation. But the situation is similar to the booster failure in October 2024. Closeup video of Thursday’s launch shows a fiery plume near the throat of one of the rocket’s four solid-fuel boosters, the area where the motor’s propellant casing connects to its bell-shaped exhaust nozzle. The throttle drives super-hot gas from the burning solid propellant through a nozzle to generate thrust.
asymmetrical wings
The plume first became visible less than 30 seconds after taking off at 4:22 a.m. EST (09:22 UTC) on Thursday. The rocket later released a cloud of sparks and debris a little more than a minute into flight. This was followed by a sudden rolling motion along the long axis of the Vulcan launcher. In the end, the rocket’s four strap-on boosters burned up and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, and ULA said the rest of the mission continued without incident.
“Early in the flight, the team observed a significant performance anomaly on one of the four solid rocket motors. Despite the observation, the Vulcan booster and Centaur performed nominally and delivered the spacecraft directly into geosynchronous orbit,” said Gary Wentz, vice president of ULA’s Atlas and Vulcan programs. “An integrated U.S. government and contractor team is reviewing technical data, available imagery, and establishing a recovery team to collect any debris. We will conduct a thorough investigation, identify the root cause, and implement any corrective actions necessary prior to the next Vulcan mission.”
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