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United Launch Alliance successfully test fires new Vulcan rocket
United Launch Alliance successfully test-fires new Vulcan rocket
Following a successful Flight Tanking Test (FTT), United Launch Alliance fired up the Vulcan rocket for the first time last night. The two Blue Origin-built BE-4 rocket engines ignited for 6 seconds and pushed ULA closer to their maiden launch of the rocket.
United Launch Alliance stated they are more than 98 percent through the qualification program for Vulcan, and after reviewing data from the Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) and closing the Centaur V anomaly investigation, they will then announce launch plans.
Ignition of the Blue Origin built BE-4 engines (Credit United Launch Alliance)
During this test firing, the BE-4 engines ignited at T- 4.88 seconds and ramped up to 60% power for 2 seconds before powering down.
The United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket has faced many delays leading up to this moment, most recently experiencing an anomaly of the Centaur V upper stage that was undergoing qualification testing at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
ULA is currently conducting an investigation into the cause of the anomaly, and according to ULA CEO Tory Bruno, they found the issue was on the Centaur upper stage itself, but they are still determining if changes will need to be made to its current flight article that is stacked on Vulcan.
? Let’s relive that beautiful #VulcanRocket Flight Readiness Firing! #CountdowntoVulcan ? pic.twitter.com/WqPe3jbpiW
— ULA (@ulalaunch) June 8, 2023
Prior to this unexpected issue, Blue Origin originally had planned to deliver two of their flight-ready BE-4 engines to ULA for integration onto the Vulcan rocket by 2020, but various delays in qualifications and testing meant their delivery slipped significantly to late 2022.
Following their integration onto the Vulcan rocket’s first stage, it was then shipped aboard ULA’s ‘RocketShip’ down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf of Mexico, and after rounding the southern tip of Florida to Port Canaveral, Florida, after which it was unloaded and then transported to the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Vulcan stands at SLC-40 prior to its Flight Readiness Firing (Credit United Launch Alliance)
This FRF test comes before the planned Summer launch of Vulcan Centaur carrying Astrobotics Peregrine Lunar lander and Amazon’s first two Kuiper satellites, their answer to the SpaceX Starlink satellite constellation.
Also known as the CERT-1 flight, the Vulcan Centaur rocket needs to perform 2 successful launches to qualify to launch national security payloads for the U.S. Space Force and other government payloads.
The second flight will feature the first launch of the Sierra Space Dream Chaser space plane, which will deliver supplies to the International Space Station. As of now, the majority of the payload manifest for Vulcan Centaur is Amazon’s Kuiper satellite constellation and U.S. Space Force national security missions.
The Vulcan Centaur rocket has a few configurations available to suit multiple payload sizes, the rocket can fly with just the 2 BE-4 engines delivering 1.1 million pounds of thrust at sea level to flying with 2, 4, or 6 solid rocket boosters and with 6 SRB’s it would bring its thrust up to 3.8 million pounds.
This would make the Vulcan Centaur capable of delivering 60,000 lbs (27,200 kg) to low Earth orbit or 25,400 lbs (11,500 kg) to the Moon. ULA is also working toward its SMART re-use system, which will allow the 2 BE-4 engines to separate from the first stage, and after an inflatable heatshield deploys, they would return to Earth and splash down for recovery and refurb for their next mission.
However, it is unknown when ULA will begin using this capability.
Questions or comments? Shoot me an email @ rangle1555@gmail.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
Investor's Corner
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.
SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.
Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.
NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.
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Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.
One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence?
What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.
Tesla has confirmed a crucial detail of its Miami Robotaxi launch, stating that the fleet is operating on an Unsupervised basis, joining a few other cities where company employees do not watch over the vehicles from inside.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, confirmed the detail on X, answering a highly speculated question about the Robotaxi Service in Miami, which was launched on June 3:
Unsupervised
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 3, 2026
The first launch of Robotaxi in Florida, Miami presents a unique opportunity for Tesla as it is operating the Unsupervised Robotaxi ride-hailing service in a major tourist hotspot in the Sunshine State. It also signals the suite will expand to other cities soon; many have requested Orlando, a heavy tourist spot with Disney and other resorts nearby, get access to the program soon as well.
Miami is getting a conservative rollout as well, just as Tesla has done with other cities. The initial geofence covers a compact 10–14 square mile zone in western Miami-Dade County, primarily West Miami extending toward Doral and Sweetwater. It is bounded roughly by SR-826 (Palmetto Expressway) to the north and US-41 (Tamiami Trail) to the south, excluding downtown Miami, Miami Beach, the airport, and most of Coral Gables.
Tesla has also been pretty slim on other details. For example, Tesla has not disclosed the exact fleet size, but field reports and license plate tracking indicate just two unsupervised Model Y vehicles were active on launch day, increasing to three within 48 hours.
According to The Road to Autonomy, a nearby staging lot near Miami International Airport holds dozens of Cybercabs alongside additional Model Y units, suggesting capacity for rapid scaling as demand and data collection grow.
The confirmation of Robotaxi being Unsupervised carries immense weight. It establishes that Tesla’s Miami Robotaxi operations run without human safety drivers or remote supervision, relying entirely on the company’s Full Self-Driving technology. Miami becomes the second major U.S. city after Austin to offer unsupervised Robotaxi rides from day one.
The move reflects rapid progress in Tesla’s AI efforts. Neural networks trained on vast real-world data now handle complex urban environments, including South Florida’s heavy traffic, pedestrians, and rainy conditions. Industry observers see it as validation of Tesla’s vision-centric, data-driven approach versus traditional rule-based systems; a truly unorthodox approach in this day and age.
Challenges remain, including regulatory oversight, public trust, and scaling the fleet to match geofence ambitions. Miami’s small initial footprint and limited vehicles highlight a deliberate, measured expansion strategy focused on safety and data gathering.
Nevertheless, the unsupervised confirmation marks a pivotal milestone. It showcases technical readiness and advances Tesla’s vision of transforming vehicles into autonomous revenue generators while reshaping urban mobility. For Miami users, driverless transportation has moved from concept to reality.
A California radiologist who drove his Tesla Model Y off a 250-foot cliff in an attempt to kill his family has had his charges dismissed after doctors say he is “doing well” in a mental health program.
Dharmesh Patel was charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with a January 2023 crash where he drove his Tesla off a cliff, injuring his wife and two children, aged 7 and 4 at the time.
Patel drove the Tesla off Devil’s Slide in California, an area that is extremely rough to the point that investigators and rescuers expected the worst when arriving at the scene for the first time. Patel supposedly had schizoaffective disorder, according to Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis.
Shockingly, Patel’s wife, who was in the vehicle, testified that she did not want her husband to be prosecuted, noting that their children missed their father and they wanted him to come back home. Patel’s attorney argued, “not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal.”
Doctor who took Tesla off cliff gets support from unlikely person
A three-day trial in Mental Health Diversion Court ruled in Patel’s favor, which kept him out of jail and instead on house arrest. He was admitted to a Mental Health Diversion Program, which he successfully completed, the Associated Press reported. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the judge was “required by law” to dismiss the charges:
“If the person who’s given mental health diversion follows the treatment plan, there’s nothing that can be done, and at the end of the two years he gets it wiped out of his record.”
Wagstaffe said he has argued, along with other DAs in California, to have attempted murder removed from the list of charges eligible to be dismissed due to mental health diversion programs.
Patel had the charges officially dismissed on Monday; his wife waited for him as he left court and they departed the building together, according to Mercury News. Patel surrendered his California medical license in December.
The crash has been one of the best examples of Tesla’s incredible engineering, which has saved four lives in this particular instance. The car was totalled but kept the four human beings alive and safe, which is something that many referred to as “an absolute miracle.”
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
Tesla confirms crucial detail of Miami Robotaxi launch
