2026年2月12日 / 美国东部时间上午6:59 / CBS新闻
联合发射联盟（ULA）的Vulcan火箭在周四发射时，其捆绑式固体燃料助推器的喷管处或附近似乎发生了烧穿，但该公司表示，火箭其余部分似乎仍进行了“正常”的太空上升。
这枚两级Vulcan火箭于美国东部时间凌晨4:22点火升空，在290万磅推力（由双甲烷燃烧的蓝色起源BE-4发动机和四个诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的固体燃料助推器提供）的推动下，从卡纳维拉尔角太空部队站的41号发射台壮丽升空。
联合发射联盟Vulcan火箭在一项主要为机密的太空部队任务中发射，将一颗太空监视卫星送入地球高轨道。该火箭还搭载了一系列较小的有效载荷。联合发射联盟
飞行的初始阶段似乎进展顺利，但在发射后约20秒，其中一个捆绑式GEM 63XL助推器的喷管处似乎发生了烧穿，一股火焰突然喷出并向一侧射出。
ULA在X平台（原推特）上发布消息称：“我们在飞行早期观察到四个固体火箭发动机中的一个出现了问题。团队目前正在分析数据。”该公司表示，Vulcan火箭的芯级、上面级和航天器继续“正常”运行。
在上升过程中，助推器被抛离前不久，跟踪摄像机显示火箭开始绕其纵轴进行相当快速的滚动。
这种意外运动是由故障喷管的侧向推力还是其他问题引起的目前尚不清楚。但一旦助推器被抛离，这种异常运动就减缓并停止了。
太空飞行新闻摄影师亚当·伯恩斯坦（Adam Bernstein）拍摄到了Vulcan火箭发射的火焰，显示出固体燃料捆绑式助推器底部（Vulcan火箭第一级底部四个助推器之一）的喷管似乎发生了烧穿。
无论如何，与以往机密军事任务一样，ULA在第二级发动机点火后不久就结束了发射直播。预计在计划的10小时任务结束后才会有进一步更新。
这是ULA新型Vulcan火箭的第四次发射，这是一枚采用全美国制造组件的重型运载火箭，旨在取代该公司的Atlas 5（部分使用俄罗斯制造的第一级发动机）和已退役的Delta 4系列发射器。
2024年进行了两次“认证”飞行，以确保火箭能够携带高价值国家安全有效载荷。第二次认证飞行期间的喷管故障引发了长时间调查和纠正措施。
2025年Vulcan的第三次飞行成功发射了该火箭的首个太空部队有效载荷。周四的发射是其第二次机密任务，也是第四次整体发射。
ULA官员在发射前表示，该公司计划今年进行超过20次发射，包括2-4次Atlas 5任务和16-18次Vulcan任务，利用东西海岸的发射台。目前尚不清楚解决明显喷管故障的工作是否会影响这一计划。
艺术家对两颗GSSAP卫星在赤道上空22,300英里处同步轨道上的印象，它们可以监控其他航天器的移动。美国太空部队
周四的主要有效载荷是一颗由诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司建造的地球同步太空态势感知计划（GSSAP）卫星，旨在监控赤道上空22,300英里高轨道上其他卫星的行为和运动。
在这个高度，卫星与地球自转同步绕地球运行，因此在天空中看起来是静止的。地球同步轨道受到大量民用和军用通信卫星、电子监听航天器等的青睐。
ULA Atlas和Vulcan项目副总裁加里·文茨（Gary Wentz）表示，GSSAP卫星旨在“提高国家快速探测、识别、表征和归因于地球同步环境中太空系统干扰的能力”。
在周四的发射之前，ULA已部署了六个GSSAP太空监视站，分别在2014年、2016年和2022年使用两枚Delta 4火箭和一枚Atlas 5火箭成对发射。在发射前的新闻发布会上，ULA管理人员拒绝透露此次Vulcan飞行中可能搭载的GSSAP卫星数量。
在Vulcan火箭鼻锥下方的GSSAP卫星下方安装了另一颗被称为ESPAStar的航天器，这是一个太阳能可展开平台，“能够容纳最多六个托管有效载荷和12个可分离（即插即用）有效载荷的任意组合”，诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司表示。周四发射的所有ESPAStar有效载荷均为机密。
任务管理人员在发射前表示，这次飞行将是ULA火箭迄今为止最长的一次飞行，需要10小时到达近地球同步轨道的多个点。
文茨表示：“这正是我们设计这枚运载火箭以支持的任务类型。这是将重要有效载荷送入非常复杂的轨道，是多任务的国家安全太空任务，直接进入地球同步轨道。因此，这枚火箭非常适合此类任务。”
联合发射联盟是波音公司与洛克希德·马丁公司各持股50%的合资企业。
ULA Vulcan rocket suffers booster problem while launching classified Space Force payloads
February 12, 2026 / 6:59 AM EST / CBS News
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket carrying a suite of classified Space Force payloads suffered what appeared to be a burn-through at or near the nozzle of a strap-on solid-fuel booster Thursday but apparently made an otherwise “nominal” ascent to space, the company said.
The two-stage Vulcan rocket thundered to life at 4:22 a.m. EST and majestically climbed away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop 2.9 million pounds of thrust from twin methane-burning Blue Origin BE-4 engines and four Northrop Grumman solid-fuel boosters.
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket blasts off on a mostly-classified Space Force mission to put a space surveillance satellite in high Earth orbit. It also carried a suite of smaller payloads. United Launch Alliance
The initial moments of the flight appeared to go smoothly, but about 20 seconds after liftoff, one of the strap-on GEM 63XL boosters suffered what appeared to be a burn-through in its nozzle, with a jet of flame suddenly appearing and shooting out to one side.
“We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors,” ULA said in a post on X. “The team is currently reviewing the data.” The company said the Vulcan core stage, upper stage and spacecraft continued to perform “nominally.”
Later in the ascent, shortly before the boosters were jettisoned, tracking cameras showed the rocket began a fairly rapid roll about its long axis.
Whether that unexpected motion was caused by the sideways thrust from the failed nozzle or by some other problem was not known. But once the boosters were jettisoned, the unusual motion slowed and stopped.
A Spaceflight Now photographer tracking the Vulcan launch captured the jet of flame from an apparent nozzle burn-through at the base of a solid-fuel strap-on booster, one of four attached to the base of the Vulcan rocket’s first stage. Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now
In any case, as usual with classified military missions, ULA ended its launch broadcast shortly after the second stage engine ignition. No further updates were expected until after the planned 10-hour mission concluded.
It was the fourth launch of ULA’s new Vulcan, a heavy-lift rocket with all-American components intended to replace the company’s Atlas 5, powered in part by Russian-built first-stage engines, and its already-retired Delta 4 family of launchers.
Two “certification” flights were launched in 2024 to clear the rocket for use carrying high-value national security payloads. A nozzle failure during the second certification flight triggered a lengthy investigation and corrective action.
The Vulcan’s third flight in 2025 successfully launched the the rocket’s first Space Force payload. Thursday’s launch was the rocket’s second classified mission and its fourth overall.
ULA officials said before launch that the company planned to launch more than 20 flights this year, two to four Atlas 5 missions along with 16 to 18 Vulcan flights, utilizing launch pads on both coasts. Whether work to resolve the apparent nozzle failure might cut into that schedule is not yet known.
An artist’s impression of two GSSAP satellites in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, where they can monitor the movements of other spacecraft. USSF
The primary payload Thursday was a Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellite, built by Northrop Grumman and designed to keep tabs on behavior and movement of other satellites in a 22,300-mile high orbit above the equator.
At that altitude, satellites circle the globe in lockstep with Earth’s rotation and thus appear stationary in the sky. Geosynchronous orbit is favored by scores of civilian and military communications satellites, electronic eavesdropping spacecraft and others.
The GSSAP satellites are intended “to improve the country’s ability to rapidly detect, learn, characterize and attribute disturbances to space systems in the geosynchronous environment,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of the company’s Atlas and Vulcan programs.
Going into Thursday’s launch, ULA had put up six GSSAP space surveillance stations, launching them in pairs in 2014, 2016 and 2022 using two Delta 4 rockets and an Atlas 5. During a pre-launch news conference, ULA managers declined to say how many GSSAPs might have been aboard the Vulcan for Thursday’s flight.
Mounted below the GSSAP in the Vulcan’s nose cone was another spacecraft known as an ESPAStar, a solar-powered deployable platform “capable of accommodating any combination of up to six hosted and 12 separable (fly-away) payloads,” according to Northrop Grumman. All of the ESPAStar payloads launched Thursday were classified.
Mission managers said before launch the flight would mark the longest yet for a ULA rocket, a 10-hour trip to multiple points in near-geosynchronous orbit.
“This is the type of mission that the team actually designed this launch vehicle to support,” Wentz said. “It’s significant payloads to very complex orbits, multi-manifested national security space, direct-to-geo. So this is tailor-fit for that mission.”
The United Launch Alliance is a 50-50 Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.
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