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In the past several years, space programs in the United States and other nations have experienced several problems during launches of new spacecraft. It may be too early to determine the impact of these problems, which people often call “anomalies.” Future missions and developments will show if these anomalies indicate significant issues or if they are just something engineers and scientists can figure out.
Solid Rocket Booster Anomaly on United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket
On 2 October 2024, observers of the launch of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket saw some material coming off of solid rocket booster (SRB) #1 and noticed the exhaust plume had changed in appearance. ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The launch continued as planned, although the vehicle timing was 20 seconds behind the scheduled time for booster separation and shutdown of the upper-stage engines.
ULA did not mention the event during the launch. Later, however, Tory Bruno, chief executive of ULA, said, “We did have an observation on SRB number one, and so we will be off looking into that after the mission is complete. Other than that, the flight was nominal.” The rest of the Vulcan mission continued with no more incidents.
Manufacturing Defect Cause of Vulcan SRB Anomaly
On 12 March 2025, Bruno announced that the cause of the rocket anomaly was a “manufacturing defect.” He explained further, stating that they found a defect in one of the internal parts of an insulator, causing the nozzle to come off. Bruno also referred to the incident as an “outlier.”
ULA has reported that since the Vulcan mission, the company has corrected its manufacturing processes and conducted a successful static-fire test in February 2025.
Conflicting Report on United Launch Alliance Reliability
Despite ULA’s assurances that they resolved the SRB problem on Vulcan, an 11 March 2025 report by Bloomberg reporter Tony Capaccio told a much different story. The article, “Lockheed-Boeing Venture that’s Space-X Rival Ranked Subpar by U.S. Air Force,” said the Air Force felt there were “major issues” with the ULA Vulcan program. Capaccio added that the Air Force was considering other companies instead of ULA.
The reporter cited the Annual Report on the Highest and Lowest Performing Acquisition Programs mandated by Congress. The document stated that the Air Force reported that ULA “has performed unsatisfactorily” on its National Security Space Launch obligations.
Capaccio went on to write that ULA had delayed three scheduled launches in 2024 and that the Air Force had assigned the company financial penalties.
Bruno was the only person to respond to the Bloomberg report, calling it “inaccurate” and repeating that ULA had resolved the issue.
Air Force Certifies Vulcan Despite Anomaly
Bruno may have been correct, as the Air Force announced on 26 March that it had certified ULA’s Vulcan for national security missions. The service stated it had analyzed data from Vulcan’s two launches in 2024.
“Assured access to space is a core function of the Space Force and a critical element of national security,” said Space Force Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, the program executive officer for Assured Access to Space at Space Systems Command, “Vulcan certification adds launch capacity, resiliency and flexibility needed by our nation’s most critical space-based systems.”
After the Air Force announcement, Bruno stated that ULA is planning a dozen launches this year between Vulcan and its Atlas rockets. He said the missions will be a combination of military and commercial.
Russian Rocket Experiences Catastrophic Failure
Anomalies have seemingly become a regular part of operating space programs, as there have been several other recent incidents. In September 2024, a Russian Sarmat ballistic missile appeared to have had a “catastrophic failure” during launch. Although the Russians did not report the incident, satellite images of the launch site show a new 200-foot-wide crater. Experts stated that the condition of the crater indicates there was probably an explosion shortly after ignition.
Anomaly Causes APU to Shut Down on European Rocket
On 9 July 2024, a European Ariane 6 rocket had an APU anomaly during its launch when it had a high-temperature indication. The launch continued into orbit, but the rocket’s upper stage did not separate and remains connected to its two reentry capsules.
A task force investigated the incident and found that a high-temperature indication exceeded an allowable limit and triggered the APU to shut down. The group investigating the Ariane 6 stated that they have changed an APU shutdown setting and are testing changes to the flight software. They expect the spacecraft to be ready before another launch before the end of 2025.
Fire on SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket
Yet another recent anomaly occurred, this time on 2 March 2025, with a SpaceX rocket. A Falcon 9 launched and deployed 21 Starlink satellites into low-earth orbit. Approximately 45 seconds after its first stage landed on the SpaceX drone ship about 250 nautical miles from Port Canaveral, Florida, a fire began in the engine compartment. The fire damaged one of the rocket’s legs, and it tipped over and exploded. SpaceX later reported that a fuel leak led to the fire.
Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, said the mission would have continued had the fire started during the ascent but added, “It’s pretty difficult to determine what was cause and what was effect from the fire.”
Following a brief investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounded the Falcon 9 fleet. They quickly accepted the findings of the SpaceX investigation and, on 4 March, approved the Falcon 9’s return to operational flights.
NASA also reviewed the incident and said that its Launch Services Program (LSP) “reviewed the data from that launch to make sure there’s no concern or risk to ascent, especially for these important science missions.”
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