US launch of new Vulcan Centaur rocket delayed until January

The maiden liftoff of a brand new American rocket known as Vulcan Centaur has been delayed from Christmas Eve to January 8, United Launch Alliance, the corporate growing it, mentioned Thursday.

The postponement stems from last-minute technical snags however ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno mentioned on X, previously Twitter, {that a} latest costume rehearsal on the launch pad went effectively.

The rocket will probably be carrying a non-public lunar lander, developed by the startup Astrobotic, which may grow to be the primary such non-public craft to the touch down on the moon and the primary American robotic to land on the floor because the Apollo program resulted in 1972.

“That is form of, in a approach, the primary big step within the marketing campaign for the US, and for all of our pals, to return to the moon, finally with folks,” Bruno advised AFP in an interview final week.

“It is a reasonably large deal to have a payload in any respect, not to mention one which goes to the floor of the moon,” he added.

“We wished to do one thing actually essential and we’ve plenty of confidence, clearly, within the design of our rocket,” Bruno mentioned.

Liftoff for this mission known as Cert-1 will happen on the US Area Power launch base at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

In costume rehearsals in latest days, some “routine” points emerged within the floor system so a Christmas Eve flight is now out and the brand new window opens January 8, Bruno wrote on X.

Apart from the lunar lander, this rocket will carry the cremated stays of a number of folks related to the unique “Star Trek” sequence, together with creator Gene Roddenberry and solid member Nichelle Nichols, who performed the character Uhura. Roddenberry’s ashes have been launched into orbit earlier than.

A pattern of Bruno’s personal DNA may also be taken into space. “Who would not need to go to space with 5 ‘Star Trek’ folks?” he mused within the interview with AFP.

Vulcan Centaur is supposed to exchange ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV rockets and designed to hold a payload of as much as 27.2 metric tons into low orbit—akin to what the SpaceX Falcon 9 can do.

© 2023 AFP