The Alpha rocket is (or was) a two-stage, 29-meter tall small-satellite delivery system designed to deliver a 1,000 kg payload to low earth orbit, or 630 kg…
In a nutshell: Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket lifted off on its inaugural flight on Thursday evening, arcing over the California coast towards the Pacific. But just after reaching supersonic speeds, it began flipping and spinning and was terminated remotely for safety. The Alpha rocket is (or was) a two-stage,29-meter tall small-satellite delivery system designed to deliver a 1,000 kg payload to low earth orbit, or 630 kg to sun-synchronous orbit. Firefly plan to fly an Alpha rocket twice a month at a per-launch price of $15 million. Thursday’s flight, posthumously referred to as a test flight, began slightly north of Los Angeles at the Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:59 pm local time.
