A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket carrying a suite of classified Space Force payloads suffered what appeared to be a burn through in the nozzle of a strap-on solid-fuel booster Thursday, but company officials said the vehicle still managed to put its satellite payloads into the proper orbit.The two-stage Vulcan rocket thundered to life at 4:22 a.m. EST and majestically climbed away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop 2.9 million pounds of thrust from twin methane-burning Blue Origin BE-4 engines and four Northrop Grumman solid-fuel boosters.A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket blasts off on a mostly-classified Space Force mission to put a space surveillance satellite in high Earth orbit. It also carried a suite of smaller payloads. / Credit: United Launch AllianceThe initial moments of the flight appeared to go smoothly, but about 20 seconds after liftoff, one of the strap-on GEM 63XL boosters suffered what appeared to be a burn-through in its nozzle, with a jet of flame suddenly appearing and shooting out to one side.AdvertisementAdvertisementA few moments later in the ascent, shortly before the boosters were jettisoned as planned, tracking cameras showed the rocket had begun a fairly rapid roll about its long axis. Whether that unexpected motion was caused by the earlier nozzle issue or by some other problem was not known. But once the boosters were jettisoned, the unusual rolling motion ended.”Early during flight, the team observed a significant performance anomaly on one of the four solid rocket motors,” Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Atlas and Vulcan programs, said in a statement. “Despite the observation, the Vulcan booster and Centaur (upper stage) performed nominally and delivered the spacecraft directly to geosynchronous orbit.”He said the government-contractor launch team “is reviewing the technical data, available imagery and establishing a recovery team to collect any debris. We will conduct a thorough investigation, identify root cause and implement any corrective action necessary before the next Vulcan mission.”A Spaceflight Now photographer tracking the Vulcan launch captured the jet of flame from an apparent nozzle burn-through at the base of a solid-fuel strap-on booster, one of four attached to the base of the Vulcan rocket’s first stage. / Credit: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight NowIt was the fourth launch of ULA’s new Vulcan, a heavy-lift rocket with all-American components intended to replace the company’s …
