United Launch Alliance (ULA) plans to conduct a crucial test-firing of its next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket today (June 7), and you can watch it live.
The Vulcan Centaur engine test, called a Flight Readiness Firing (FRF), is scheduled to take place today at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Â
Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of ULA, or directly via the company.
Related: Vulcan Centaur rocket: The space workhorse of tomorrow
The 202-foot-tall (62-meter) Vulcan Centaur is ULA’s rocket of the future, the replacement for the company’s venerable Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles.
Vulcan Centaur is powered by two of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines in its first stage and two RL-10 engines in its upper stage, and the vehicle can accommodate up to six strap-on solid rocket boosters as well.Â
The rocket will be capable of lifting up to 7.7 tons (7 metric tons) of payload to geostationary orbit high above Earth when it’s up and running. Vulcan Centaur has not lifted off yet, but ULA is working to change that, as today’s planned test shows.
The FRF is a practice run that “will demonstrate day of launch timelines and procedures, propellant loading operations and the countdown through ignition of the engines,” ULA said via Twitter today.
ULA tried to conduct the FRF on May 25 but called the test off during the countdown after noticing a technical issue with the booster. The company rolled the Vulcan Centaur off the pad into its Vertical Integration Facility hangar for inspection and analysis. That work apparently went well, for ULA is ready for another try today.Â
If the FRF goes well, Vulcan Centaur will be in the home stretch toward its debut launch, which will send the Peregrine lunar lander, built by Pittsburgh company Astrobotic, toward the moon.
That landmark mission — the debut for Peregrine as well — could lift off as soon as this summer, ULA representatives have said.Â
