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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.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
A Tesla owner who purchased a Model S Signature Edition, one of the final 250 units of the all-electric flagship vehicle that the company discontinued earlier this year, is attempting to sell the car despite a no-resale clause that prohibits reselling for the first year.
The car is being sold by J&S Autohaus in Ewing, New Jersey, and is priced at $260,490, well above the $159,420 that Tesla sold it for earlier this year.
🚨 The first Tesla Model S Signature Edition is up for sale for $260,490
Tesla placed a no-resale clause on the Model S and X Signature, so it will be interesting to see if the company takes any action. https://t.co/N9rKGHnbD6 pic.twitter.com/6FZhDL1KNR
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 14, 2026
To those who do not know, the Model S Signature was a highly exclusive, limited-run farewell variant of the Model S Plaid that was produced this year to mark the end of production of both the Model S and Model X, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles.
Limited to just 250 units with invite-only sales, it serves as a collector’s item celebrating the legacy of the Model S, which helped pioneer Tesla’s electric vehicle success since its 2012 launch.
It bundles top-tier performance with bespoke cosmetic and luxury upgrades, plus Tesla’s Luxe Package. Here’s what the Model S Signature has over the typical Model S Plaid:
- Exclusive Exterior – Unique Garnet Red Paint, matching door handles, gold Tesla “T” badges upfront, gold Plaid and Signature badging at the rear.
- Premium Interior – White Alcantara upholstery with gold piping/accents, gold Plaid seat badges, Signature-marked door sills, individually numbered dashboard plaque, gold puddle lights, special interior lighting sequence, and a custom Signature key fob.
- Performance Upgrades – Carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers
- Bundled Luxe Package – Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Connectivity, free lifetime Supercharging
- Performance Metrics – ~1,020 horsepower, sub-2-second 0-60 MPH, ~390-mile range
Tesla quickly introduced a No Resale Agreement for the Signature Editions of the Model S and Model X, which would penalize the seller for “the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”
The company continues:
“If you sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of your Model S or Model X, the remainder of the Recommended Maintenance, Wheel and Tire Protection Plan, and Windshield Protection Plan will transfer automatically to the buyer. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once the ownership of the Model S or Model X is transferred.”
Tesla will likely come after the seller, especially as it has been about two months since Tesla launched deliveries.
Tesla rolled out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.5 yesterday, and about fifty miles of driving on the new version has given me enough time to highlight what seems to be strong about the release and what is not.
Additionally, Tesla has added a few new features with this specific update, which we’ll highlight as well.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Performance
The new update is business as usual. Things seem to be running completely normal and necessary, but there are a few things that we’ve seemed to pick up on based on our own experience with v14.3.5, as well as what other users are seeing.
Initially, it seems to be more aware of its surroundings, making moves that are incredibly courteous to other drives and operating just a tad more reserved than what the suite might have done previously.
We had two instances where it showed this, the first being FSD needing to pass a Flagger Force vehicle that was placing down signage for the day. Their work truck was right at the front corner of a right-hand turn; typically where most cars travel when they take that turn.
FSD v14.3.5 recognized this, slowed down, and took the turn wide with no issues:
🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 takes a wide turn as flagger crews set up signage for the day https://t.co/3v0PL9qhlI pic.twitter.com/i4CKqxE16c
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 13, 2026
Additionally, v14.3.5 backed up for a semi truck that was making a wide turn onto a road my car was on. This is not new, but it seemed to be backing up for courtesy; it didn’t seem completely necessary, but it might have put some peace of mind in the truck driver’s head:
🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 backs up for an oncoming tractor trailer taking a wide turn https://t.co/0WuAqNMpRR pic.twitter.com/s6yZGVm5Te
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 13, 2026
X user Mike P, also a Pennsylvania native like myself, shared three clips of his Tesla running v14.3.5 performing similar maneuvers. He said:
“FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.”
Check it out here:
Rapidfire epic moments on FSD V14.3.5
1) FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.
2) Insane speed to vehicle cues. As FSD approaches… pic.twitter.com/bSnySSlFHR
— Mike P (@mikepat711) July 13, 2026
It seems like Speed Profiles are still in need of some tweaking; I am adjusting what Speed Profile I’m in frequently, constantly changing it to get it to travel at the correct speed. This was an issue for me on v14.3.4. It seems like they’re just a little inconsistent.
Terrible Parking
Parking attempts on v14.3.5 were not good. There are quite a few people who have said this:
Yeah it seems like FSD v14.3.5 is having some issues with parking early on https://t.co/Bw5ULfVmDq pic.twitter.com/RHdpjOEpIo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 13, 2026
David Moss, the Tesla owner who has taken multiple coast-to-coast drives without any interventions, also has had some issues with parking early on with v14.3.5:
Horrible first impression v14.3.5 on my 2025 Tesla Model 3 LR RWD Premium 😭
3 terrible parking jobs in 23 min including parking on a ramp in a business park & parking perpendicular out in the road on street only parking situation.
Wish I had a better drive but I still believe… pic.twitter.com/TtyhRHAFG7
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) July 13, 2026
New Features
Tesla has added the ability to open Camera Preview at any time. Previously, it was only available in Park. Here’s what that feature looks like in action:
🚨 Here’s the new Camera Preview feature on FSD v14.3.5 pic.twitter.com/OodfZgDppy
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 13, 2026
Check back later this week for a longer review of what we’ve noticed on Full Self-Driving v14.3.5.
Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop
Tesla owner attempts resale of Model S Signature Edition for over $260k
