--- title: ULA’s Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday... description: United Launch Alliance plans to return its Vulcan rocket to flight on November 13, nine months after a solid rocket booster anomaly disrupted its 2026 launch... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: ULA’s Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday the 13th | daily.dev og:description: United Launch Alliance plans to return its Vulcan rocket to flight on November 13, nine months after a solid rocket booster anomaly disrupted its 2026 launch... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/MUz87WJTo.png og:image:alt: ULA’s Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday the 13th og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # ULA’s Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday the 13th **[Ars Technica](https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary United Launch Alliance plans to return its Vulcan rocket to flight on November 13, nine months after a solid rocket booster anomaly disrupted its 2026 launch schedule. The mission will launch 40 satellites for Amazon's Leo broadband constellation, the first of 38 Vulcan flights booked by Amazon. Vulcan suffered nozzle failures on solid rocket boosters during two of its first four missions, most recently in February, and in both cases the rocket overcame the failure and completed its mission, but US Space Force officials lost confidence in Vulcan. ULA says engineers identified several potential contributors to the anomaly and mitigated them through an improved nozzle design that will fly on this mission. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why was ULA's Vulcan rocket grounded in 2026? Vulcan suffered nozzle failures on its solid rocket boosters during two of its first four missions, most recently in February. The rocket overcame both failures and completed its missions, but the US Space Force, ULA's primary customer, lost confidence in the rocket as a result, leading to a nine-month grounding. _Anyone tracking the Vulcan return-to-flight timeline can follow launch updates like this on daily.dev._ ### What fixed the Vulcan rocket's solid rocket booster nozzle problem? Engineers identified several potential contributors to the nozzle anomaly and mitigated them through design and process improvements to the nozzle. The return-to-flight mission will use this improved nozzle design, with additional testing and analysis continuing in parallel with the mission to validate the fix. _Space industry watchers follow engineering fixes like this nozzle redesign on daily.dev._ ### What is the first mission for Vulcan's return to flight? Vulcan's return-to-flight mission will launch 40 satellites for Amazon's Leo broadband constellation, scheduled for November 13. This is the first of 38 Vulcan flights that Amazon has booked with ULA to deploy the bulk of its satellite network. _Developers tracking satellite constellation rollouts like Amazon Leo can follow the news on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [ULA aimed to launch up to 10 Vulcan rockets this year—it will fly just once](https://daily.dev/posts/ula-aimed-to-launch-up-to-10-vulcan-rockets-this-year-it-will-fly-just-once-dd9ufsxs6) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [SpaceX cleared to fly Starship again after booster failure in May](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-cleared-to-fly-starship-again-after-booster-failure-in-may-dhrqfkugm) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [NASA pays Boeing $359m to get Starliner flying, eyes crew return by 2028](https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-pays-boeing-359m-to-get-starliner-flying-eyes-crew-return-by-2028-qu7umw9ly) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [SpaceX just launched Starship V3 — its most powerful megarocket yet — into space for the 1st time in spectacular Flight 12 test \(video\)](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-just-launched-starship-v3-its-most-powerful-megarocket-yet-into-space-for-the-1st-time-in-44o5bog6d) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [In a surprise announcement, Tory Bruno is out as CEO of United Launch Alliance](https://daily.dev/posts/in-a-surprise-announcement-tory-bruno-is-out-as-ceo-of-united-launch-alliance-wxsf6ndvj) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"ULA’s Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday the 13th","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto"},"datePublished":"2026-10-28T23:34:59.892Z","dateModified":"2026-10-29T00:13:03.682Z","description":"United Launch Alliance plans to return its Vulcan rocket to flight on November 13, nine months after a solid rocket booster anomaly disrupted its 2026 launch...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/bd2858b9fd61e56c3aa3767f8b0e67c7?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/bd2858b9fd61e56c3aa3767f8b0e67c7?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Ars Technica","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Ars Technica","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/80883e0e48a34b5ebcf93777016cb3fe","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ars Technica","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"ULA’s Vulcan rocket is set to return to flight on Friday the 13th"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ula-s-vulcan-rocket-is-set-to-return-to-flight-on-friday-the-13th-muz87wjto#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why was ULA's Vulcan rocket grounded in 2026?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Vulcan suffered nozzle failures on its solid rocket boosters during two of its first four missions, most recently in February. 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