ULA Vulcan Rocket Launches With Its First Amazon Leo Payload

(Bloomberg) -- United Launch Alliance launched its Vulcan rocket for the first time in nine months, a long-awaited return for a vehicle plagued by delays and technical mishaps.

The mission took off at 12:40 p.m. local time on Sunday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying 40 satellites for Amazon.com Inc.’s nascent Leo internet service, a competitor with Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The launch by ULA, a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., is the vehicle’s first since February when it suffered an issue with one of its solid rocket boosters.

Vulcan had its debut in January 2024 after nearly a decade of development but ULA has struggled to ramp up flights, only launching the rocket four times before today’s takeoff.

The sluggish rollout comes as the space industry is staring down a potential launch bottleneck. SpaceX has indicated it plans to retire its Falcon 9, a reliable staple for the industry, and Vulcan is one of a handful of comparable rockets that could serve as a viable alternative.

Another rocket, New Glenn from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, has been grounded since May after it exploded in a massive fireball during a ground test, damaging the company’s only launch site and exacerbating concerns about a launch shortage.

ULA, SpaceX and Blue Origin are part of an elite tier of companies approved to launch the Department of Defense’s most sensitive missions. However, the Space Force in February paused missions on Vulcan, threatening a major source of ULA’s revenue. The Air Force also fined ULA over delays.

The launch on Sunday marks the first of 38 planned missions for Amazon aboard Vulcan, after eight successful flights aboard ULA’s older model, Atlas V.

Amazon Leo already has nearly 400 satellites in orbit, with approval from federal regulators for more than 7,700. However, Vulcan and New Glenn’s problems have hampered Amazon’s efforts to build the network.

In June, the Federal Communications Commission approved Amazon’s request to waive a deadline to have more than 1,600 satellites in orbit by mid-2026, with the company citing the grounding of new rockets among the causes for the move. Amazon still must have the full network in place by July 2029.

--With assistance from Loren Grush.

(Updates throughout with details on the mission.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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