Update: Firefly delays Vandenberg rocket launch. Here’s when to expect liftoff
Update, 4:20 p.m.:
Firefly has once again delayed the rocket launch to the furthest edge of its launch window. The rocket will now launch at 6:59 p.m.
Update, 3:50 p.m.:
Firefly is now targeting a 4:20 p.m. launch, the company tweeted Sunday afternoon.
Update, 3:05 p.m.:
The Firefly Aerospace launch was temporarily delayed Sunday after an issue during pre-launch.
Crews were assessing the situation to determine if the rocket launch can still take place Sunday.
“We aborted at the top of our launch window,” Firefly said via Twitter. “We have a 4-hour window today and will work on the issue to see if we can recycle.”
Original story:
As thousands watched Firefly Aerospace’s rocket shoot into the sky on Sept. 2, 2021, company officials held their breaths.
It was the much-anticipated first launch of the aerospace company’s Alpha rocket. As the vehicle blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, observers wondered the company would make it to space on the first try.
It wouldn’t.
Fifteen seconds into the flight, one of the rocket’s four engines shut down. That resulted in the craft slowly losing control and flipping before Western Range crews at Vandenberg issued the command to terminate the flight.
As it self-destructed, a fiery explosion happened over head, showering the region with bits of debris and officially delaying the Texas company’s dreams of space.
Now, Firefly is set to try again this weekend.
Firefly has confirmed it plans to launch its new Alpha rocket from Vandenberg on Sunday at 3 p.m.
What the company is cheekily calling “Alpha Flight 2: To The Black” will be Firefly’s attempt to launch multiple satellites into low-Earth orbit, according to a news release.
According to the release, “Alpha will first insert into an elliptical transfer orbit, coast to apogee and perform a circularization burn.”
The rocket will carry several payloads, including a Teachers in Space CubeSat miniature satellite which will collect data during the mission and make it available to the educational community; a NASA CubeSat designed in coordination with San Jose State; and a picosatellite, or, ultra-small satellite, deployer that will “test the world’s first fully free and open source telecommunications constellation,” according to Firefly.
The launch will be livestreamed by Everyday Astronaut. The livestream will begin approximately an hour ahead of launch.
Updates can be found at firefly.com/alpha-flight-2-to-the-black.
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 10:00 AM.
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