The U.S. Space Force is halting all national security launches on Vulcan Centaur rockets after a booster malfunction reoccurred during the vehicle's most recent mission.
United Launch Alliance (ULA)'s new Vulcan Centaur rocket debuted in January 2024 and now has four launches under its belt. On two of those missions, Vulcan suffered an anomaly in one of its solid rocket boosters during flight. Although the rocket's core-stage engines managed to compensate both times, leading to overall mission success, the reoccurrence has raised eyebrows at the Space Force, which is pressing pause on the Vulcan missions it has lined up until ULA can get to the bottom of things.
