ULA's Vulcan Is Set for Friday's Amazon Leo 1 Launch

This Vulcan, designated V-012, will fly in the VC6L configuration for the first time: six side-mounted solid rocket boosters, a 70-foot payload fairing, and the first LEO-optimized Centaur V upper stage, which is about six feet shorter and carries a third less propellant than the high-energy version used on earlier flights. The weight savings are meant to put more satellites into Amazon's orbital planes on each mission. ULA says Vulcan Leo 1 will deliver more than 50,000 pounds (22,700 kg) of payload to orbit, a company record. Once fueled, the 215-foot rocket will weigh 1.99 million pounds, and its two BE-4 main engines plus the six boosters will generate 3.9 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The vehicle was stacked in the new Amazon Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-A) on a dedicated launch platform, opening a second processing lane at the Cape.

The climb will head northeast toward a 51.9-degree orbit. After the first stage shuts down and separates east of Charleston, South Carolina, Centaur will fire, jettison the fairing, and settle into a preliminary parking orbit before a 50-minute coast and a second burn south of New Zealand, circularizing at about 285 miles. Satellite deployments begin 70 minutes after liftoff and last 25 minutes as the rocket crosses the Pacific, with 16 separation events releasing the 40 spacecraft from a customer-provided dispenser. This is the first of 38 Vulcan launches ULA has on contract for Amazon, coming after eight successful Amazon Leo deployment missions on Atlas V. The initial Amazon Leo constellation is designed to include more than 3,000 satellites providing broadband to customers beyond the reach of existing networks.

ULA will run a live countdown and mission status blog beginning at 6:30 a.m. CT (7:30 a.m. EST) and a launch livestream starting at 11:34 a.m. CT, 20 minutes before the opening of the window. For those on Florida's Space Coast, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is offering launch viewing with regular admission, including a closer vantage at the Apollo/Saturn V Center's Banana Creek area and a view from the main complex once the rocket clears the trees. It's a daytime launch on a northeasterly track, so the most straightforward look will be along the Space Coast, weather allowing.