Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha Rocket Aiming for Sunday Launch from Vandenberg SFB

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Title: Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha Rocket Aiming for Sunday Launch from Vandenberg SFB

Originally reported on www.noozhawk.com by noozhawk.com

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With hopes for a different outcome than a year ago, a fledgling rocket will return to flight Sunday afternoon at Vandenberg Space Force Base in a mission to deliver several small satellites into orbit and prove Alpha’s capabilities to join the small launcher market. 

The Firefly Aerospace booster, standing 95 feet tall, will aim for liftoff from Space Launch Complex-2 during a launch window opening at 3 p.m. Sunday.

SLC-2, which previously served as the site for Delta II rocket launches, sits a few miles north of Surf and Wall beaches. Boaters and pilots have been warned to remain out of the area near base until approximately 8 p.m. Sunday.

Firefly has had a busy summer prepping for the launch, completing a wet dress rehearsal and static fire test — essentially practice countdowns — ahead of liftoff. 

“Alpha Flight 2 is ready and headed #ToTheBlack,” the firm posted on social media.

To The Black is Firefly’s second technology demonstration flight that will attempt to launch multiple satellites to low Earth orbit, Firefly official have said. The firm’s first flight attempt ended in failure on Sept. 2, 2021. 

A review of data confirmed an engine shutdown doomed the rocket’s flight, sending it tumbling before it ended in a fireball.

“About 15 seconds into the flight, engine 2 (there are four Reaver engines on the first stage) shut down,” Firefly officials stated days after the failure. “It was an uneventful shutdown — the engine didn’t fail — the propellant main valves on the engine simply closed and thrust terminated from engine 2.”

Still, with three engines firing, the rocket continued to climb and maintain control for about 145 seconds. The nominal first-stage burn duration is about 165 seconds. 

However, because of one missing engine — and the lack of thrust from that engine — the rocket’s climb rate was slow and it struggled to maintain control, Firefly said.

Alpha was able to compensate initially, but the three-engine thrust vector control was insufficient, causing the vehicle to tumble out of control, with video showing the rocket completing a flip.

Western Range crews at Vandenberg issued the command to terminate the flight, causing the dramatic explosion.

Debris from the destroyed rocket landed in Orcutt and Lake Marie Estates. A year later, officials have not explained why pieces of the booster have been recovered in the local community. 

Rockets making their debut often end in failure although not typically as dramatically as Alpha’s fireball.

In the year since, Firefly has seen several significant changes, including the recent addition of a new leader. Bill Weber, a longtime aerospace and defense executive, has been named chief executive officer, Firefly announced this month.

Firefly Aerospace is working to develop an economical launch vehicle with an eye toward filling the need for a rocket to carry smaller satellites.

But Firefly also has partnered with Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop a first-stage upgrade for the Antares rocket and a new medium-lift launch vehicle to serve commercial, civil and national security space launch markets. The unique collaboration will provide American-built engines to replace the Russian-made RD-181 engines.

A webcast of the launch will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday and can be found at firefly.com.

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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