The early hours of February 12, 2026, brought a dazzling spectacle to Florida’s Space Coast, as United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket thundered skyward from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. But this wasn’t just another routine launch—observers were treated to an unexpected light show, as sparks flickered from one of the rocket’s solid boosters. The event, while visually dramatic, did not prevent the mission from achieving its critical objective: deploying the heaviest payload Vulcan has ever carried, a satellite designed to safeguard America’s interests in geosynchronous orbit.
At exactly 4:22 a.m. Eastern Time, Vulcan ignited its engines on Launch Complex 41, shaking the ground with a rumble that could be felt for miles. According to FLORIDA TODAY, the launch had been delayed slightly from its original window, but the rocket ultimately lifted off without further incident. The 202-foot-tall Vulcan, powered by two main BE-4 engines (each delivering 550,000 pounds of thrust) and four side-mounted solid rocket boosters (each providing another 459,600 pounds), quickly pierced the predawn sky, its fiery tail visible across much of Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Yet, just moments after liftoff, sharp-eyed spectators and photographers noticed something unusual: a burst of sparks emanating from one of the four solid rocket boosters. As reported by USA TODAY, this anomaly was confirmed by ULA, who issued a statement assuring the public that, despite the visual oddity, the mission remained on track. “We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors, the team is currently reviewing the data. The booster, upper stage, and spacecraft continued to perform on a nominal trajectory,” ULA stated in a February 12 update.
Two and a half minutes into the flight, the four solid rocket boosters completed their job and detached from the core stage, tumbling away as four bright points of light against the dark sky. Just a few minutes later, Vulcan’s Centaur V upper stage separated from the main booster, its own twin engines firing to propel the payload even higher—nearly 22,000 miles above Earth, far beyond the International Space Station’s 250-mile orbit.
The mission, designated USSF-87, was no small feat. The payload, built by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Space Force, is part of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP). This advanced satellite will serve as a “neighborhood watch” in space, monitoring objects and potential threats in geosynchronous orbit—where satellites match the Earth’s rotation and play vital roles in communications, navigation, and national security. According to FLORIDA TODAY, the satellite was successfully deployed just over six hours after launch, marking a critical milestone for both the Space Force and ULA.
In a statement released after the launch, the Space Force confirmed, “The Vulcan rocket successfully delivered the mission to the designated orbits despite an observed anomaly early in flight on one of the four solid rocket motors.” The statement also noted that the Space Force’s SYD 80 team would work closely with ULA, following their mission assurance process before the next Vulcan national security space mission.
This wasn’t Vulcan’s first brush with a solid booster anomaly. Back in October 2024, during a test flight, the rocket experienced a similar spark from a booster nozzle, but the payload reached orbit safely. Gary Wentz, ULA’s vice president of Atlas and Vulcan Programs, addressed the recurrence: “The integrated U.S. government and contractor team is reviewing the technical data, available imagery, and establishing a recovery team to collect any debris. We will conduct a thorough investigation, identify root cause, and implement any corrective action necessary before the next Vulcan mission.”
Despite these hiccups, the launch underscored Vulcan’s growing importance in the U.S. space program. The rocket is designed to replace both the Atlas V and the now-retired Delta IV, consolidating ULA’s fleet into a single, more powerful workhorse. The Vulcan’s unique Centaur V upper stage, standing more than 41 feet tall and equipped with two engines generating 23,825 pounds of thrust each, allows it to perform complex missions to extreme orbital heights—an essential capability as the U.S. Space Force and other agencies look to secure the increasingly crowded geosynchronous belt.
And this is only the beginning. ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has ambitious plans for Vulcan. According to USA TODAY, the company is projecting 18 to 22 Vulcan launches in 2026 alone, with missions ranging from national security payloads to civil and commercial contracts. The U.S. Space Force has already assigned nearly two dozen national security launches to Vulcan, split between Cape Canaveral and California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Interim CEO John Elbon, who stepped in after Tory Bruno’s departure in December 2025, expressed confidence in Vulcan’s future. “We’re well positioned for the future,” Elbon said during a February 10 press briefing. Elbon, a veteran of Boeing and ULA, has been with the company for eight years and now oversees a period of rapid growth and transition.
The next missions are already lining up. While the Cape’s launch schedule has not yet set a date for Vulcan’s next flight, it is widely anticipated to be the launch of a batch of Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) internet satellites. Meanwhile, the very next launch from Cape Canaveral could come as soon as February 13, when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is set to carry NASA’s Crew-12 astronauts to the International Space Station—weather permitting, of course.
For the Space Coast, the successful Vulcan launch is a testament to the region’s enduring role at the cutting edge of space exploration and defense. The sight of sparks in the night sky was a reminder that, even in this age of high-tech rockets and precision engineering, spaceflight remains an endeavor full of surprises. Yet, as ULA and the Space Force demonstrated, careful planning, teamwork, and a willingness to investigate and learn from anomalies can turn even the unexpected into a stepping stone for future success.
As Vulcan prepares for its next missions, the eyes of the space community—and indeed, the nation—will be watching closely, eager to see what new feats this powerful rocket will achieve and what new mysteries it might spark along the way.