Kacey Roberts
United Launch Alliance is preparing for the inaugural certification mission of its new heavy-lift rocket, Vulcan Centaur, scheduled for Dec. 24.
The maiden launch is set to carry two payloads and depart from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, ULA said Monday.
The first payload, known as the Peregrine Mission One lander, is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, while the second payload is Celestis’ deep space Voyager mission called Enterprise Flight.
Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA and a previous Wash100 Award recipient said, “Vulcan satisfies all challenging orbital requirements essential for U.S. national defense and provides one scalable system for all missions.”
Cert-1 will mark the first of two flights necessary for the U.S. Space Force’s certification process, with the second flight planned for early 2024.
Prior to the Cert-1 mission, ULA will perform a wet dress rehearsal, spacecraft integration and final processing efforts.
