ULA Sets November 13 Target for Vulcan Return to Flight
United Launch Alliance has set Friday, November 13, 2026, as the target date for its Vulcan rocket to return to flight, the company announced on October 28. The mission, called Vulcan Leo 1, would carry 40 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The date still depends on approval from the Eastern Range, and the exact launch time and trajectory have not been announced.
The rocket has been grounded for about nine months after a solid rocket booster nozzle anomaly on its February 12, 2026, mission for the United States Space Force. Spectators saw brief sparks from a booster nozzle about 25 seconds after liftoff, and the cause was attributed to one of the Northrop Grumman-built GEM 63XL solid rocket motors. A similar nozzle incident occurred on the rocket’s second test flight, Cert-2, in October 2024.
In both cases the rocket’s main engines compensated and the payloads reached their intended orbits, but the Space Force halted further Vulcan missions until the problem was resolved. United Launch Alliance said engineers identified several potential contributors that were addressed through changes to the nozzle design and production process, and the return flight will use the improved nozzle design while additional testing continues.
The November mission is the first of 38 Vulcan flights Amazon has booked to deploy the bulk of its Leo broadband satellite constellation, a network built to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. A second Vulcan vehicle is already assembled for the follow-up Leo 2 mission.
Vulcan has flown only four times since its debut in January 2024. The Space Force certified the rocket for national security launches in 2025, and the return flight will be closely watched as a test of whether the redesigned booster nozzle holds up in flight.
