First US lunar lander in 50 years lifts off on Vulcan rocket

The first US lunar lander in decades has blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Station onboard the United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur launch system. The Vulcan Centaur is the first launch system designed collaboratively by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since its formation in 2006 after merger of the Boeing and Lockheed Martin's space divisions.

Prior to this, the company has used the partner companies existing launch systems Delta and Atlas to send a variety of payloads to orbit. With the two expendable launch systems set to retire, the Vulcan Centaur is set to replace them. The system was expected to see its first launch in 2019 but multiple delays pushed back its maiden flight to mid 2023 first and later to .

Vulcan Centaur The ULA has designed the Vulcan Centaur as a single launch system capable of handling a wide range of missions. This is made possible through the use of a variable number of solid rocket boosters that are deployed as per the requirements of the mission. Instead of using liquid hydrogen and oxygen as fuel, the Vulcan Centaur uses liquid methane and oxygen.

The upper stage is an upgraded version of the Centaur III and consists of two RL 10 engines delivering up to . The Centaur upper stage, built by Aerojet Rocketdyne has a rich legacy of successfully putting payloads to orbit, which not only include military and commercial satellites but also US astronauts..