Finally! ULA Vulcan & BE-4 successfully launched on first flight. NASA's reactions...

four three we have ignition and liftoff of the first United launch Alliance Vulcan rocket this accomplishment marks a significant success for Ula blue origin and NASA after nearly a decade of planning designing assembly and testing United launch alliance's efforts have reached fruition with the maen launch of its Vulcan rocket the inaugural flight of this launch vehicle took place this morning at 2:18 a.m. eastern from space launch complex 41 at Cape Canaveral space force station as the countdown approached lus 6 hours marking 8:00 p.m. on Sunday the launch complex received the green light for clearance within an hour the preparations surged ahead entering a heightened state of Readiness as the ini initiated the chilling process for the feed lines gearing up for the imminent tanking procedure following the completion of all polls the entire launch Team including engineering Specialists and Leadership unanimously agreed to proceed to the final phase of the countdown without any interruptions the countdown progressed smoothly and moments before left off the Rockets engines ignited propelling the vehicle into the dark morning Skies of Florida within less than 2 minutes of the flight's commencement the Rockets two smaller side boosters detached and the liquid methane and liquid oxygen fueled rocket emitted a haunting blue glow as it ascended into space now here's an impressive detail Vulcan is loaded with a whopping 44,000 kg of propellant a blend of methane liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen once fully fueled this rocket weighs an impressive 66336 7 kg on board the the Vulcan rocket lies the primary payload astrobotics paragr lunar lander eagerly awaiting its Voyage to the moon this vital cargo was carefully secured to top the rocket within the 15 1/2 M long payload fairing crafted by Beyond gravity back on December 20th paragen is all set to embark on its Journey To The Moon through a trans lunar injection orbit while the centar 5 upper stage will proceed with celestus Memorial space flights Enterprise flight to orbit around the Sun if everything unfolds as planned paragen is slated for a landing on February 23rd in a mid latitude region of the Moon known as sinus viscosus more famously recognized as the Bay of stickiness don't ask me why that is leading America back to the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo is a momentous honor expressed astrobotics CEO John thoron ahead of the launch until now achieving a soft landing on Earth's closest Celestial body has been a feat accomplished by only a few National Space agencies the Soviet Union claimed the honor of being the first in 1966 followed by the United States which Remains the sole country to have sent humans to the lunar surface over the past decade China has achieved successful Landings three times while India accomplished the feat on its second attempt just last year presently the United States is Shifting its focus to the commercial sector aiming to stimulate a more expansive lunar economy and transport its own Hardware at a significantly reduced cost through the commercial lunar payload Services Program or Clips Mark Peller ula's vice president of Vulcan development characterized the launch as a pivotal moment for many within the Ula company it's terribly exciting it's one of these once in your career opportunities for most people and many people go through their whole career without ever getting this opportunity P said it's been a lot of hard work but it's tremendously gratifying and it's really helped us at Ula obviously develop our capabilities internally to bring new products to Market Ula president and CEO Tori Bruno formally announced Vulcan to the World on April 13th of 2015 about 7 months after its announced partnership with blue origin to acquire be4 engines to power the booster stage of this new rocket the transition away from the Russian Rd 180 engines which were utilized in the atlas 5 rocket stemmed from the US congress's pressure following Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea originally slated for its inaugural flight in 2019 the rocket faced numerous developmental delays coupled with setbacks in the delivery of the be4 engines astrobotic CEO John Thorton highlighted ula's impressive Legacy boasting a perfect mission success rate since its establishment in 2006 as a significant factor in their selection of Vulcan as their spacecraft Vulcan may have a new name but it essentially embodies an upgraded version of Atlas 5 which gives us considerable Assurance thoron mentioned they've been an exceptional partner throughout the years aiding in the development of this capability concurrently with their rocket in addition thoron highlighted their financial constraints noting that they needed innovative solutions to fund their lunar flight being part of vulcan's Debut flight was deemed a significant risk but it greatly facilitated their financial Arrangements we chose United launch alliance's First Flight of Vulcan because we believe so much in the company and we're very very confident that this Mission will be successful thoron affirmed and of course that came with some relief on the price and that makes this Mission possible while Thorton didn't specify astrobotics payment for the Ula flight NASA is investing $108 million for astrobotics transportation of its five payloads to the lunar surface under the commercial lunar payload service Services Program this sum marks an increase from the original $79. million intended for 14 NASA payloads the augmented cost was influenced by covid-19 related supply chain disruptions and a shift in the landing location in 2022 according to NASA's Joel Kars consequently the offloaded payloads are set to fly on other Clips missions Wentz highlighted that Vulcan primarily consists of Legacy Hardware with a range of enhancements or modified versions which Ula believes contributes to bolstering confidence with the exception of the be4 engine all other Hardware or their derivatives have been part of previous Atlas or Delta flights catering to various customers missions once explained this track record has provided us with the confidence to extend our support to NASA and astrobotics missions furthermore northr Grumman is supplying an enhanced version of its solid rocket boosters for this Mission the pair of gem 63xl engines in combination ation with the be4 will yield just over 2 million pounds of thrust during liftoff in future Vulcan flights the potential utilization of up to six engines could yield a maximum thrust of 3.3 million comparatively the thrust varies across different Rockets a falcon9 generates about 1.7 million PB while a falcon heavy boasts 5.1 million PB Atlas 5 achieves 2.3 million pounds in its most robust configuration and the Delta 4 heavy hits 2.1 1 million NASA's SLS impresses with 8.8 million pounds of thrust whereas spacex's new starship and super heavy collectively produce an estimated 17 million pounds of thrust Vulcan does provide extremely good value and is very competitive in the marketplace P said what's unique about Vulcan and what we originally set out to do was to provide a rocket that had all the capabilities of Atlas and Delta in one single system and we achieved that actually a vehicle that has performance that's even greater than the 3body Delta 4 heavy P emphasized that the system meets the diverse needs of its commercial civil and National Security space customers catering to various destinations like low earth orbit geostationary orbit and even interplanetary missions such as the assert one flight we've been able to achieve a vehicle that goes from medium to heavy lift in a single core configuration he said we do that by the flexibility to add solid rocket boosters so that it provides heavy lift capability with the single core rocket and providing extreme value for our customers so a very flexible rocket that is very competitive in the marketplace this initial launch for ula's Vulcan rocket serves as a pivotal milestone for the company particularly as it progresses toward the crucial missions within the US space Force's National Security space launch program Vulcan is mandated to complete two certification flights before undertaking its inaugural nssl Mission following the paragan flight which which fulfills the requirement for cert one Ula aims to conduct the cert 2 mission by launching Sierra space's Dreamchaser space plane to the International Space Station P mentioned a 60-day period set aside for comprehensive data review post cir one launch ensuring preparedness for subsequent stages they anticipate scheduling the c 2 mission for around April coinciding with another Ula mission to the ISS the launch of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft for the crew flight test whether both missions will occur within the same month month remains uncertain as Ula sets its ambitious schedule for the coming years the promise of increased launch rates and devolving capabilities stands at the Forefront of their plans with multiple missions lined up and the prospect of heightened productivity what pivotal milestones at advancements do you anticipate for ula's future endeavors how might this search and launch rates influence the landscape of commercial space missions in the near future next year the rate increases to a total of 28 launches for the year once said we're also putting in place a secondary capability where we can do vertical integration of a second vehicle in parallel and once that capability is brought on board our flight rate will increase as we conclude our glimpse into ula's ambitious plans for the upcoming year and Beyond the trajectory of their launch schedule invites contemplation what implications might ula's planned Surge and launch rates hold for the broader space industry how do you envision the future of space exploration amid these evolving capabilities join the dialogue and share your thoughts on the potential impacts and advancements sparked by ula's expansive launch schedule in the comment section down below otherwise folks that's about it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in and if you want to support our Channel even further you can hop on over to our patreon through the link in the description below sign up and become a patron today to gain access to exclusive content sounds exciting right in any case we still appreciate your generosity and your passion for space exploration as always this is Kevin from great SpaceX and until next time keep looking up