A firing test of the rocket, including flight engines, was scheduled for the summer of 2021, but it never took place. And Bezos’s flight to the edge of space wasn’t much of a distraction.
ULA has been continuing to use the Atlas V rocket with Russian rocket engines. And the urgency of developing the Vulcan is heightened by increasingly bad US-Russia relations.
It is rumored that ULA may presently be looking for a competitor to build out the rocket. Since Lockheed, a co-owner of the space company, has put out feelers to acquire Aerojet.
But Aerojet’s AR-1 may not be up-and-running much faster. And the two engines require different fuel sources which would create a long list of extensive modifications.
ULA is stuck waiting for Blue Origin to finalize a working BE-4 engine. The SpaceX competitors still seem to be moving in slow motion. And it doesn’t look like 2022 will be the year that it happens.
