Bruno Optimistic about ULA Launch Cadence, Worried About Starship Operations in Florida

ULA President Tory Bruno is optimistic the company will reach its goal of two launches a month by the end of 2025. That’s later than planned and total launches for this year will be just nine, but liftoff of the first U.S. Space Force mission on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket next week will kick off a burst of activity that extends into 2026 and 2027. The growing number of launches from Florida’s Space Coast already is creating congestion and Bruno worries about the impact of SpaceX’s plans to launch Starship from there as many as 44 times a year.

Bruno answered wide-ranging questions from reporters today about the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) near- and long-term plans. Expectations of launching 20 times this year were scuttled by the need to complete corrective actions to Vulcan’s Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs) after an anomaly in October 2024 and then synchronizing the schedule with satellite deliveries.

That’s all in the past and they are looking forward to a steady launch cadence from now on.  First is the U.S. Space Force’s USSF-106 mission on August 12. It’s the first national security space launch for Vulcan, which USSF certified for national security missions in March.

The launch of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket carrying the U.S. Space Force (USSF)-106 mission for the United States Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) is planned for Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,… pic.twitter.com/OkWwEAxSUz

— ULA (@ulalaunch) August 5, 2025

Vulcan will send USSF-106 with the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 directly into geosynchronous orbit. Bruno didn’t get into details about the payloads other than saying there are two satellites, but enthused about the capabilities of Vulcan’s Centaur V upper stage to accomplish the feat. “If you were picking, you might choose to start with a more plain vanilla mission, but this is in fact the anchor case that drove the design and the architecture” of the Vulcan Centaur system. “It makes one of our longest duration missions ever,” though he’s not permitted to say how long that is.

ULA was created as a 50-50 joint venture by Lockheed Martin and Boeing in 2006 when the launch market couldn’t sustain both Lockheed Martin’s Atlas and Boeing’s Delta fleets. ULA became the de facto sole source provider for DOD launches until SpaceX’s Falcon arrived on the scene in the early 2010s. The market has changed dramatically since then with more launch service providers and increased commercial demand. Bruno said ULA’s portfolio now is 60 percent commercial and 40 percent government and he expects it to remain that way for the next several years.

ULA launches from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida and SLC-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. ULA is adding infrastructure at SLC-41 — a second Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) and Mobile Launch Platform — so they can process two rockets at the same time. SLC-3 was used for Atlas launches and now is being converted for Vulcan. Shortages of skilled workers like structural welders and cryogenic pipe fitters have slowed the work because they are in high demand “as everyone in aerospace” is building infrastructure. SLC-3 is 76 percent completed now and he expects it to be certified by the end of the year.

For now, ULA is focused on getting into a routine twice-a-month launch cadence. The order books are full through 2027 and someone “would have to drop out” to clear a space for a new customer, but he pointed out that’s not uncommon in the launch business. Thirteen Atlas rockets remain in inventory, with all but two completely built and in storage. The other two are close to completion. Vulcan is replacing Atlas and “half a dozen” are ready to go.

One of the customers for six Vulcan rockets is Sierra Space to launch the Dream Chaser spaceplane. Looking like a small space shuttle, Dream Chaser will deliver cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. The first launch was supposed to take place last year on ULA’s second Vulcan certification flight, Cert-2. ULA delayed Cert-2 for several months waiting for Dream Chaser to be ready, but eventually decided it had to move on in order to get Vulcan through USSF’s certification process. Cert-2 ended up launching with only a mass simulator and a few proprietary ULA experiments.

Bruno still is “excited” about flying Dream Chaser, a “really cool vehicle.” He deferred to Sierra Space to say when it’ll be ready for launch.

ULA’s increased launch rate will add to congestion at CCSFS and the adjacent Kennedy Space Center, both of which are part of and under the jurisdiction of the USSF’s Eastern Range.

SpaceX launches Falcon from SLC-40 at CCSFS and LC-39A at KSC. It’s adding a launch pad for Starship at LC-39A and plans to launch the Starship/Super Heavy combination 44 times a year. Both are reusable so that means 44 Super Heavy rocket landings — or “catches” — and 44 Starship landings per year as well. Those are in addition to launches and landings at Starship’s current home in Starbase, TX.

Bruno is concerned about what impact all that activity will have on other users of the Eastern Range. The FAA regulates commercial space launches and is conducting an environmental assessment of SpaceX’s plan, but Bruno wants to be sure the government takes a broad look.

Starship “is not just another rocket on the range.”  Its unprecedented size and the number of planned launches require a thorough analysis not only of the effect on the ecological environment, but the launch environment.

Starship is an interesting vehicle in that it’s not just another rocket on the range. It is of an unprecedented size and the request that has been put in for licenses at a very, very high launch rate. So we are counting on the Space Force and the FAA to do a very thorough analysis of that and how it will affect not just the ecological environment, but also the launch environment.

There are certain operations you can’t do on your pad when another vehicle is fueled due to the energetics that are associated with that. And that’s part of what the range has to do in directing traffic for the multiple users that are there now. This new user will be, as I said, unprecedented. It’s much larger than a Saturn V. It is something that’s not been on the range before.

So they need to do a very thorough, careful analysis of that and we are counting on them to do it so that we can all use the range [so] that capacity of our nation is greater and not smaller.  — Tory Bruno

Starship/Super Heavy is 123 meters (403 feet) tall and 9 meters (29.5 feet) in diameter and generates 16.7 million pounds of thrust.  Saturn V, the rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the Moon, was 110.6 meters (363 feet) tall and 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter and generated 7.6 million pounds of thrust. It launched 13 times over 6 years from 1967-1973.  NASA’s new Moon rocket, the Space Launch System, is 98 meters (322 feet) high and 8.4 meters (27.6 feet) diameter and generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Its first launch from KSC’s LC-39B was in 2022. At least two more are planned in 2026 and 2027.

FAA’s ongoing environmental assessment is for Starship launches and landings at LC-39A, but SpaceX plans to also use SLC-37 at CCSFS in the future.