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United Launch Alliance Vulcan Anomaly Fails Amazon Leo 1 Launch, Losing 40 Satellites
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ULA's Vulcan Centaur failed during ascent, destroying 40 Amazon Leo satellites. First outright mission failure for ULA since Boeing–Lockheed venture formed in 2006.
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Vulcan Anomaly, Leo Lost
United Launch Alliance said its Vulcan vehicle suffered an anomaly 10 minutes into the flight and failed to deliver the Amazon mission to orbit during the Amazon Leo 1 launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Vulcan malfunctioned during the climb to space on Sunday, dooming the 40 Amazon Leo internet satellites and throwing a costly wrench into both companies' launch schedules.
The six solid rocket boosters appeared to perform well in the first two minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 12:40 pm EDT (17:40 UTC). ULA said it did not immediately have “any specific data to understand what occurred,” and it said engineers will investigate the failure to “find the cause, determine the appropriate corrective action, and return to flight as quickly as possible.”
ULA, Amazon, and NASA
ULA said it would work with Amazon and other organizations to find the cause, determine the appropriate corrective action, and return to flight as quickly as possible, while it also said it did not yet have “any specific data to understand what occurred today.” Amazon Leo said in a post on X that “there is risk with any launch, and that’s especially true for inaugural missions like LV-01,” and it added that “ULA has been a trusted partner for Amazon.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman offered assistance, writing on X, “The team at @NASA is available to assist in all matters related to the investigation and remediation effort.” ULA officials told reporters they would work closely with Amazon and other organizations, and it quoted ULA’s media update that “Every flight generates data, and every flight teaches us something.”
What Happens Next
ULA said the anomaly would likely force a potentially significant grounding while engineers review telemetry and implement fixes for whatever caused the mishap, and it said it would return to flight as quickly as possible. Sunday’s launch was the first of 38 Vulcan flights purchased by Amazon to launch its Leo satellites, and the failure would require Amazon Leo to wait on ULA’s failure investigation before trying again with a Vulcan.
Amazon had launched 396 satellites for its Redmond-based satellite internet network, formerly known as Project Kuiper, on 14 missions since April 2025, and the last successful launch was in July when ULA flew the last of eight Leo missions on its Atlas 5 rocket. The Federal Communications Commission gave Amazon permission in June to keep deploying satellites even if it missed its July 30 deadline to put 1,616 into service, and Amazon still has until July 30, 2029, to deploy and operate all 3,232 first-generation satellites.
