![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231220_Vulcan_full_stack_small.jpg)
United Launch Alliance achieved a critical milestone towards the debut of its next launch vehicle. On Wednesday, the corporate integrated the payload fairing on top of its Vulcan rocket, marking the primary time it has put together the complete stack.
The operation comes lower than three weeks ahead of the goal launch date for the rocket, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Liftoff for the Certification-1 (Cert-1) mission is ready for two:18 a.m. EST (0718 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Earlier this month, ULA hoped to launch the rocket during a December window that ran from the twenty fourth through the twenty sixth. Nevertheless, an incomplete wet dress rehearsal tanking test caused them to redo the test and subsequently, pivot to the January launch window, which spans from Jan. 8-11.
Due to launch delays over at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the launch of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander was pushed off into the February window. That signifies that Vulcan and its payload, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, is now set to be the primary spacecraft to launch as a part of NASA’s Industrial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
The Cert-1 mission will probably be a Vulcan VC2S variant vehicle. The “2” represents the 2 GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters onboard and the “S” represents a brief payload fairing length. The short version of the fairings are 51 feet (15.5 meters) in height and 17.7 feet (5.4 meters) in diameter.
As a completely integrated vehicle, this Vulcan, sporting a brief fairing, stands at 202 feet (61.6 meters) tall.
The first mission is to send the Peregrine lander right into a highly elliptical orbit on its approach to the Moon. Secondarily, a memorial payload dubbed “Enterprise” affixed to the Centaur 5 upper stage, will proceed on right into a hyperbolic orbit across the Sun.
The mission being launched on behalf of Celestis Memorial Spaceflight incorporates 265 capsules with the cremated stays and DNA samples of many notable figures. The name “Enterprise” comes from the proven fact that “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and his wife, Mabel Barrett Roddenberry, are amongst those onboard. Key actors from the show, Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan, are also being flown together with DNA samples from three former U.S. presidents.
CLPS takes flight
The Cert-1 mission notably marks the debut mission for Astrobotic as well. Peregrine Mission-1 (PM-1) is designed to reveal a collection of 5 NASA payloads under the CLPS program. Astrobotic was certainly one of nine firms chosen in 2018 to perform these business missions to the Moon.
No matter when throughout the January window Vulcan launches, a spokesperson at Astrobotic said the lander will touch down on the Moon’s surface on Feb. 23. The anticipated time of the landing has not been publicly released.
![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Peregrine-Encapsulation-4.jpg)
The Peregrine lander is ready to the touch down at Sinus Viscositatis, which translates to “Bay of Stickiness.” It’s situated at 35.25 degrees North and 40.99 degrees West on the Moon. The world is marked by a hardened lava flow, which has a granite-like composition and is an area that researches on Earth are desperate to study.
“It’s incredibly thrilling. We’ve been talking about this mission for 16 years as a company, our first mission to the Moon and now, it’s finally here,” said Dan Hendrickson, the Vice President of Business Development at Astrobotic. “The team is exhilarated, anxious to get off the launch pad and able to fly. So really, it’s a dream come true now that we’re here. This is definitely the moment.”
Hendrickson spoke with Spaceflight Now on the sidelines of the von Braun Space Exploration Symposium in late October. The Peregrine lander is hosting 20 payloads in total, including a small rover designed and built by students and college at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The town can be where Astrobotic is predicated.
“We’re really excited to have the entire world on board. We’ve seven nations which can be represented across the 16 different customers,” Hendrickson said. “So not only is the U.S. returning to the Moon for the primary time since Apollo 17, but we’re carrying quite a lot of international partners, giving them their opportunity to the touch down on the surface, operate. And that’s no small thing.”
Peregrine’s landing operation will probably be live-streamed with additional pictures to follow during its as much as 10-day operation on the Moon.