When will United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket fly? - Ars Technica

The large Vulcan rocket, which has received dozens of launch orders from the US Department of Defense and Amazon for its Project Kuiper megaconstellation, is due to make its debut at some point this year.

In response to a query from Ars, a spokesperson from the rocket's primary customer, Astrobotic, said the mission is targeted for a launch during the first quarter of 2023, i.e., before the end of March.

With much work left to do before the heavy-lift rocket takes flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a reasonable target for a no-earlier launch date is May 2023.

There are two main drivers of the delay for this mission, which is known as Cert-1 (this stands for "certification flight-1," meaning it's the first of two demonstration flights before the rocket is certified to carry payloads for the US Department of Defense).

"Peregrine is now ready to be shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida when Astrobotic’s rocket provider, United Launch Alliance, gives the green light to receive it," the company stated.

This release made it sound like Astrobotic simply needed to ship the lander from Pittsburgh to the launch site, where it would be installed on the rocket.