Space Force adds a review gate to Vulcan's return to flight

United Launch Alliance is preparing to return Vulcan to flight on an Amazon Leo mission, but Space Systems Command will run a separate review of data from that commercial launch before putting the rocket back on the national security manifest, a senior Space Force acquisition official said at the AFA conference in National Harbor on September 16. Vulcan has been barred from national security missions since a Northrop Grumman GEM 63XL solid rocket booster nozzle anomaly on the February 12 USSF-87 flight, the second booster nozzle failure on the vehicle since its second test flight in October 2024. The pause has left SpaceX as the only provider actively flying National Security Space Launch payloads, and trackers still list the first Vulcan Amazon mission, LV-01, as no earlier than late September.