Active
Atlas V
Workhorse medium-lift launch vehicle with a 100% mission success rate, being phased out in favor of Vulcan Centaur.
United Launch AllianceVulcan Centaur
Activegrounded
Next-generation medium-to-heavy-lift launch vehicle replacing Atlas V and Delta IV, powered by BE-4 engines.
Latest update Sep 19, 2026
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Current status
First launch 2024; certified for NSSL in March 2025. Grounded since the February 12, 2026 USSF-87 GEM 63XL nozzle anomaly. Space Force pause on NSSL Vulcan launches remains in force as of September 19, 2026, with no posted return-to-flight date. A ULA spokesperson told Ars Technica on September 11 the investigation is ongoing. First Amazon flight LV-01 still listed NET late September 2026 (status TBD) on a six-booster VC6L.
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Specifications6
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Upcoming milestones1
Announced next steps from United Launch Alliance that mention Vulcan Centaur.
2026 (year-end)
Launch Sierra Space's Dream Chaser Tenacity debut on Vulcan
Fly the uncrewed Dream Chaser Tenacity spaceplane's debut mission on a Vulcan Centaur from Cape Canaveral - a free-flyer demonstration to LEO rather than an ISS docking, ending with a runway landing at Vandenberg. On September 2, 2026 Sierra Space said it had signed undisclosed national-security and commercial customers to fly payloads on that inaugural flight and was still finalizing the manifest. Sierra Space still targets late 2026, but the flight sits behind NSSL missions on Vulcan's recovering manifest and depends on Vulcan's return to flight; no launch date has been posted.
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In the news3
ULA seeks $500M private bond sale amid Vulcan strain
United Launch Alliance is seeking to raise about $500 million through a private bond placement arranged by US Bancorp, Mizuho and Wells Fargo to refinance existing debt, according to reports first surfacing August 5. The move follows a year of financial strain tied to the Vulcan Centaur's grounding since February 2026, and comes on top of, not in place of, the separate $500 million credit guarantee Lockheed Martin extended to ULA in July.
Lockheed extends $500M credit guarantee to ULA amid Vulcan grounding
Lockheed Martin disclosed in its Q2 2026 SEC filing, around July 23, that it has guaranteed up to $500 million of United Launch Alliance's borrowings as Vulcan Centaur's continued grounding strains the joint venture's finances. Vulcan has not flown since a February 12, 2026 solid rocket booster nozzle anomaly on the USSF-87 mission, and ULA leadership is now targeting a return to flight only by the end of 2026, with ULA flying just five missions so far in 2026 against an original 18-22 launch goal.
ULA flies final Atlas V 551 on Amazon Leo mission
United Launch Alliance launched the last Atlas V in its powerful 551 configuration in the early hours of July 2 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, carrying 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites - a roughly 18-ton payload that tied the record for the heaviest load ever flown on an Atlas V. It was Amazon Leo's eighth and final launch on Atlas V, with future constellation flights shifting to ULA's next-generation Vulcan Centaur. Amazon said its low-Earth-orbit network stood at about 367 satellites before the mission, on the way to a planned fleet of more than 3,000.
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More from United Launch Alliance2
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