ULA's Vulcan rocket set to return to flight on November 13

United Launch Alliance (ULA), the American rocket maker, announced on Wednesday that it plans to put its Vulcan rocket back into service on November 13. The return comes nine months after a solid rocket booster anomaly upended the company's 2026 launch schedule. The flight matters because confidence in ULA's new flagship rocket, which the US Space Force relies on for national security missions, depends on it.

What the mission involves

On the return flight, Vulcan will deliver 40 satellites to orbit for Amazon Leo, a broadband internet constellation. It is the first of 38 Vulcan flights Amazon has booked to deploy most of its network. Liftoff is planned from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and ULA says the date still awaits range approval.

Why the rocket was grounded

On two of Vulcan's first four missions, the nozzles on its solid rocket boosters failed, most recently in February. In both cases the rocket overcame the failure and completed its mission, yet officials at the Space Force, ULA's main customer, lost confidence in the vehicle. The Space Force certified Vulcan for national security launches in 2025 and then flew two missions on it before the grounding that followed the February incident. The Pentagon has entrusted Vulcan with roughly half of its major launches through the early 2030s, so the Space Force will scrutinize the return mission closely.

Improvements

ULA says its engineers have made great strides in understanding the February anomaly and have identified several potential contributors. These have been mitigated through design and process improvements to the nozzle. The upcoming launch will use the improved nozzle, while further testing and analysis continue in parallel. According to ULA, flying the new design will yield flight data validating the improvements.