The mission of a launch program is to place satellites into the desired orbit using Satellite Launch Vehicles. In order to ensure a safe and sound completion of launch mission, it is essential that the satellite is not subjected to excessive vibrations during the launch. During the launch atmospheric ascent in the transonic speed regime, the launch vehicle is subjected to buffet excitation due to alternating flows caused by shock wave and boundary layer interactions. Especially, the payload fairing experiences high levels of pressure fluctuations and alternating flow separation and reattachment. The problem becomes most severe under the combination of dynamic pressure and angle of attack, where the aerodynamic loads reach peak values. This causes problems in steady and unsteady aerodynamics. Main cause for this phenomenon appears to be flow instability associated with separated flow and formation of a vortex-pair. Interactions between the induced velocity of the vortex pair and oncoming mean-flow cause oscillations of the Lambda-shock system and high levels of fluctuating pressures. An aerospike was found to control the formation of counter-rotating vortices, shock oscillations as well as jumps in overall aerodynamic characteristics, with no significant changes in the drag coefficient. Dramatic suppression of energy associated with the unsteady forcing function can be seen in the low-frequency band upto about 2.5 kHz. The observations are based on wind tunnel tests involving unsteady pressure measurements, surface- flow patterns and high-speed shadowgraph recordings on a blunt nose cone with various cone angles.