United Launch Alliance launches first next generation Vulcan rocket in Florida: 'An exciting new era'

United Launch Alliance successfully launched its next generation Vulcan rocket early Monday morning, the organization announced.

The rocket was launched at 2:18 a.m. on Monday from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to mark what the ULA described as "the beginning of a new era of space capabilities."

The Vulcan provides "industry-leading capabilities to deliver any payload, at any time, to any orbit," the company said in a news release announcing the launch.

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"Vulcan's inaugural launch ushers in a new, innovative capability to meet the ever-growing requirements of space launch," ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno said. "Vulcan will provide high performance and affordability while continuing to deliver our superior reliability and orbital precision for all our customers across the national security, civil and commercial markets. Vulcan continues the legacy of Atlas as the world’s only high-energy architecture rocket."

ULA said the rocket will leverage the world's highest-performing upper stage to deliver on the company's "industry-leading legacy" of reliability and precision. Its flexibility and endurance enable complex orbital insertions within the most challenging and clandestine orbits.

"The successful development and flight of this evolutionary rocket is a true testament to the unrivaled dedication and ingenuity of our workforce," Vulcan Development vice president Mark Peller said. "Vulcan's purpose-built design leverages the best of what we’ve learned from more than 120 combined years of launch experience with Atlas and Delta, ultimately advancing our nation’s space capability and providing unprecedented mission flexibility."

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The flight served as the first of two certification flights required for the U.S. Space Force's certification process, ULA said. The second certification mission is scheduled to launch in the coming months and another launch of the first Vulcan mission to support national security space will be held in the summer.

ULA has sold more than 70 Vulcan launches thus far, including 38 missions for Amazon's Project Kuiper and multiple national security space launch missions as part of the United States' Phase 2 launch procurement.