Firefly Alpha, launch vehicle, Firefly Aerospace, Cedar Park, Texas, USA

Firefly Aerospace is the next private rocket company that aims to achieve orbit with its brand new Alpha launch vehicle. Alpha will lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, USA, and targets a 300 km low Earth orbit (LEO) in which it will deploy multiple payloads. On board of the FLTA001 DREAM mission will be Firefly’s DREAM payloads, which consist of technical and non-technical payloads, ranging from CubeSats and DNA samples, to pictures of loved ones.

00:00 - Intro
07:00 - Prelaunch Preview
18:20 - Pointy End Up / Flamey End Down
25:42 - Q&A
58:30 - First launch attempt
1:00:00 - Reset for next attempt / Break
1:08:11 - Q&A
1:52:52 - Strongback Retract
1:54:45 - FTS armed
1:56:15 - T-2 minutes / GO / NO-GO
1:58:17 - Liftoff
2:00:45 - Anomaly
2:01:45 - Post Launch Q&A

Click to expand...

Firefly Aerospace launched its first Firefly Alpha launch vehicle from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on 3 September 2021, at 01:59 UTC (2 September, at 18:59 PDT). About two minutes into the flight, the “Alpha experienced an anomaly during first stage ascent that resulted in the loss of the vehicle”.

Click to expand...

Watch Firefly achieve orbit on their second attempt. Full success!

Click to expand...

Firefly Aerospace’s fourth Firefly Alpha launch vehicle (Alpha Flight 4 – FLTA004) launched the “Fly the Lightning” mission from the Firefly SLC-2 launchpad at the Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on 22 December 2023, at 17:32 UTC (09:32 PST). According to Firefly Aerospace, the “Fly the Lightning” mission will deploy Lockheed Martin’s Electronically Steered Antenna (ESA) payload, integrated on a Terran Orbital Nebula small satellite bus.

Click to expand...

Firefly Aerospace’s fifth Firefly Alpha launch vehicle (Alpha Flight 5 – FLTA005) launched the “Noise of Summer” mission, eight CubeSats selected through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), from the Firefly SLC-2 launchpad at the Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on 4 July 2024, at 04:03 UTC (1 July, at 21:03 PDT).

Click to expand...