SpaceX-rival United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing Co (NYSE:BA, ETR:BCO) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), launched its new Vulcan rocket bound for the moon on Monday.
ULA’s next generation Vulcan, itself a successor to the Delta IV and Atlas V rockets, successfully launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday morning.
MISSION SUCCESS! ULA's #VulcanRocket successfully performed its #Cert1 flight test today! Thank you to the engineers, technicians and teammates across the nation who designed, built and launched this versatile new rocket. ULA success #159.https://t.co/JRNjxSQtlZ pic.twitter.com/KQbKg04nLY
— ULA (@ulalaunch) January 8, 2024
“Vulcan’s inaugural launch ushers in a new, innovative capability to meet the ever-growing requirements of space launch,” ULA chief executive Tory Bruno said in a statement.
Such a rocket provides “industry-leading capabilities to deliver any payload, at any time, to any orbit”, the company added.
Monday’s mission, dubbed first certification flight or Cert-1, will send the first commercial lunar lander to the moon’s surface, alongside transporting cremated human remains deep into space.
Containing payloads from seven nations and 16 commercial customers, some instruments aboard the Peregrine lunar lander “will help NASA prepare for the Artemis program’s missions to enable a sustained human presence on the Moon", developer Astrobotic said.
ULA added it is ultimately targeting a future bi-weekly launch rate, with 70 launches having been sold so far, including 38 for Amazon’s Project Kuiper.