ULA's Vulcan nears return to flight; South Korea's Nuri rocket succeeds

United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket appears close to launching, according to Ars Technica's Rocket Report. The return-to-flight mission has a no-earlier-than launch date of Oct. 29 and will carry an Amazon Leo payload. A second Vulcan flight, also an Amazon Leo mission, is planned for later this year. The report frames these flights as a pivotal moment for ULA.

The Rocket Report notes that Vulcan's progress depends on the performance of its solid rocket boosters. Assuming they work as intended, the report says Vulcan could be poised for a major breakthrough in launch cadence next year. The newsletter describes the upcoming missions as the big news of the week.

In South Korea, the Nuri rocket completed its fifth flight on Wednesday, successfully deploying five satellites for the country's first domestically launched microsatellite constellation, according to Yonhap News Agency. The primary payload was the New-space Earth Observation Satellite Constellation for National Safety. Nine of the rocket's 10 CubeSat secondary payloads were also released as planned, the Korea AeroSpace Administration said.

One CubeSat, PERSAT-02, failed to separate from the rocket. The satellite was developed by South Korean startup Quaternion. Despite that setback, the Nuri mission marked a significant step for South Korea's domestic launch capabilities, as the constellation is the first of its kind to be launched on a homegrown rocket.