liftoff to moon set for 2:18 a.m. Monday, watch the action live here at SpaceCoastDaily.com
ABOVE VIDEO: A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan VC2S rocket will launch the first certification mission from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, FLORIDA – United Launch Alliance rolled its 202-foot-tall Vulcan Centaur rocket out to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Friday morning for a planned Jan. 8 launch to the moon.
That liftoff is set for 2:18 a.m. EST Monday and will transport the Peregrine lander to the moon. You can watch the action live here at SpaceCoastDaily.com, courtesy of NASA TV, beginning at 1:30 a.m. EST.
The Vulcan Centaur replaces ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, which has been ULA’s workhorse since the early 2000s.
According to ULA on X, the Vulcan Centaur rocket made the trip from its hangar “with the help of undercarriage railcars and trackmobile machines that push[ed] the entire 1.7-million-pound platform and #VulcanRocket along tracks up the hill to the pad.”
“Now that is a beautiful sight,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno wrote in an X post of his own today, which shared a photo of the red-and-white Vulcan Centaur standing atop the pad at the end of the rollout.
Now that is a beautiful sight. #VulcanRocket pic.twitter.com/VQX0Th8ss2
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 5, 2024
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan VC2S rocket will launch the first certification mission from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Cert-1 flight test includes two payloads.
The first is the Peregrine Lunar Lander, Peregrine Mission One for Astrobotic as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface. The second payload is the Celestis Memorial Spaceflights deep space Voyager mission known as the Enterprise Flight.
The Peregrine Lander precisely and safely delivers payloads to lunar orbit and the lunar surface. Payloads can be mounted above or below the decks, inside or outside of enclosures, and can remain attached or deployed according to their needs.
WATCH: A United Launch Alliance Vulcan VC2S rocket will launch the first certification mission from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Cert-1 flight test includes two payloads. The first is the Peregrine Lunar Lander, Peregrine Mission One for Astrobotic as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface. The second payload is the Celestis Memorial Spaceflights deep space Voyager mission known as the Enterprise Flight.
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The post WATCH LIVE: ULA Vulcan Rocket Ready to Launch from Cape Canaveral at 2:18 a.m. ET for Mission to The Moon appeared first on Space Coast Daily.