Deja vu: Vulcan Centaur rocket powers through 'significant performance anomaly' on satellite launch

a big white rocket launches in a dark night sky — A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket launches the USSF-87 mission for the U.S. Space Force on Feb. 12, 2026. (Image credit: ULA)

United Launch Alliance's (ULA) new Vulcan Centaur rocket can certainly overcome adversity.

The Vulcan Centaur launched for the fourth time ever on Thursday morning (Feb. 12), carrying two spy satellites aloft for the U.S. Space Force from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Things went well, but there was a hiccup along the way.

"The integrated U.S. government and contractor team is reviewing the technical data, available imagery, and establishing a recovery team to collect any debris," Wentz added. "We will conduct a thorough investigation, identify root cause, and implement any corrective action necessary before the next Vulcan mission."

Vulcan Centaur is the successor to ULA's workhorse Atlas V rocket. It consists of the Vulcan core stage, Centaur upper stage and up to six strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRBs), which are built by the aerospace company Northrop Grumman.

The new rocket debuted in January 2024 with the launch of the private Peregrine lunar lander. Vulcan Centaur did its job that day, but Peregrine suffered an anomaly after deployment and ended up crashing back to Earth.

Vulcan flew for the second time in October 2024, on a test flight designed to get it certified for U.S. national security missions. The rocket experienced an anomaly with one of its two SRBs less than 40 seconds into that flight, causing it to veer slightly. But the Vulcan Centaur adjusted and overcame the problem, reaching its desired orbit.

ULA declared the mission a success but still performed an investigation, which found that the SRB's nozzle fell off during flight due to a manufacturing defect.

The Space Force certified Vulcan Centaur for U.S. national security missions in March 2025. The rocket performed its first such flight that August, successfully delivering an experimental navigation satellite to geosynchronous orbit, which lies 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above Earth.

It's too soon to tell what caused this latest SRB issue and how the anomaly will affect Vulcan Centaur operations going forward. We'll have to wait for the results of ULA's investigation, which the Space Force will be following with interest.

The military's System Delta 80 team at Cape Canaveral "will work closely with ULA per our mission assurance space flightworthiness process before the next Vulcan national security space mission," Space Force officials said in an emailed statement after Thursday's launch.

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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