ULA Vulcan rocket launches: SpaceX's newest rival

U.S. rocket successfully reached orbit early Monday.

The launch was significant in both scale and market impact.

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Conducted by United Launch Alliance (ULA) from Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

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The 202-foot-tall Vulcan rocket deployed its main payload, the Peregrine lunar cargo lander.

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Built by Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based company.

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Peregrine is headed for the moon with a scheduled landing attempt on Feb. 23.

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Astrobotic's mission could mark the first American soft-landing on the moon in over 50 years.

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ULA's Vulcan launch is a challenger to SpaceX, Elon Musk's company.

SpaceX had 96 successful missions with Falcon rockets in 2023.

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ULA plans to increase Vulcan's launch rate to every other week by the second half of 2025.

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ULA CEO Tory Bruno aims for several launches in 2024. More than 70 Vulcan missions sold, including-

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Space Force contracts and launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper.

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Vulcan’s success is a significant milestone for Blue Origin. Blue Origin supplies the main engines (BE-4) for Vulcan.

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BE-4 engines faced delivery delays on their first flight.

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Jeff Bezos congratulated the team on social media after the successful launch.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket will also be powered by BE-4 engines.

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