ULA will launch its latest Vulcan Centaur rocket for the first time this year. She has already been rolled out to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
What is known
The launch is scheduled for May 4, 2023. The rocket was rolled out of the hangar not for the sake of beauty, but to conduct a test refueling. In a few days, Vulcan Centaur will again go to the hangar, where the company’s specialists will conduct a series of tests and complete the assembly.
The rocket does not yet have a payload, but can launch a payload weighing 27.2 tons into orbit. It was fueled with liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen. In addition, ULA checked how the ground infrastructure of the launch complex #41 is ready for the May launch.
Vulcan Centaur, if successful, will become a replacement for two rockets at once: Atlas V and Delta IV. Both are equipped with Russian RD-180 engines. The first stage of the ULA rocket is powered by two BE-4 engines. They are designed by Blue Origin but have never flown before.
Source: space
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