For those with an interest in the history of spaceflight, January 8th promised to be a pretty exciting day. Those who tuned into the early morning live stream were looking forward to seeing the first flight of the Vulcan Centaur, a completely new heavy-lift booster developed by United Launch Alliance. But as noteworthy as the inaugural mission of a rocket might be under normal circumstances, this one was particularly special as it was carrying Peregrine — set to be the first American spacecraft to set down on the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
Experience has taught us that spaceflight is hard, and first attempts at it doubly so. The likelihood of both vehicles performing as expected and accomplishing all of their mission goals was fairly remote to begin with, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Even in the event of a complete failure, valuable data is collected and real-world experience is gained.
Now, more than 24 hours later, we’re starting to get that data back and finding out what did and didn’t work. There’s been some disappointment for sure, but when everything is said and done, the needle definitely moved in the right direction.
Vulcan: Better Late than Never
Since their formation in 2006, United Launch Alliance (ULA) has maintained a 100% mission success rate between their primary rockets, the Atlas V and Delta IV. While there were always cheaper rides to space, notably on Russia’s Soyuz rocket, ULA became known as the launch provider you selected if you absolutely had to get your payload into space.
But by the early 2010s, it was clear the commercial launch market was changing. Not only was it far cheaper to fly on the Falcon 9, bu ..
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