On a NASA-funded mission, Firefly Aerospace launched eight cubesats into orbit, marking the company’s maiden flight of an Alpha rocket following an upper stage malfunction more than six months prior.
On July 4, at 12:04 a.m. Eastern, the Alpha rocket took off from a misty Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A ground equipment malfunction stopped the countdown moments before the rocket’s first stage engines ignited, forcing the cancellation of the planned launch on July 2.
A timetable released by Firefly indicated that the rocket began deploying its cargo of eight cubesats approximately 35 minutes after the upper stage shut down. The operation was estimated to take approximately 11 minutes. Firefly did not reveal the precise target orbit for the mission prior to launch, although it was a low Earth orbit.
Three hours after liftoff, the agency announced on social media, “After expected deployment, @NASA’s CubeSat teams are now awaiting acquisition of signal.” However, during the first few hours following launch, neither NASA nor the payload owners provided an update on the condition of their cubesats. Seven of the eight cubesats were confirmed to have been deployed during the launch webcast.
Four university-developed satellites were carried on the mission, which NASA named Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa 43): CatSat from the University of Arizona, KUbeSat-1 from the University of Kansas, MESAT-1 from the University of Maine, and SOC-I from the University of Washington. The TechEdSat-11 cubesat was constructed by the Ames Research Center, while the R5-S4 and R5-S2-2.0 satellites were supplied by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Teachers In Space is a charity organization that provided the eighth cubesat, named Serenity.
In order to support future small launch vehicles, NASA contracted Firefly for the launch through the Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) Demo 2 program. 2020 saw the contract for VCLS Demo 2 awarded to Firefly, Astra Space, and Relativity Space. Astra’s VCLS launch in February 2022 was unsuccessful due to a malfunctioning upper stage on its Rocket 3.3. For its VCLS mission, Relativity intended to deploy its Terran 1 rocket; however, the corporation declared in April 2023 that it was retiring the vehicle following a single launch attempt that was unsuccessful in reaching orbit in order to concentrate on its larger Terran R vehicle.
This was the first Alpha launch overall and the first since December 2023, when an upper stage malfunction during a second fire left the payload—a Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite—stranded in a low orbit. Subsequently, the business attributed the occurrence to a technological glitch. After the cubesats were deployed, Firefly reported that it had successfully accomplished a “nominal plane change” and a second stage relight on this mission.
Following the launch, Firefly Aerospace CEO Bill Weber said in a statement, “The Firefly team knocked it out of the park.”
The next Firefly launch date has not yet been disclosed, but prior to this one, Firefly stated that it intended to conduct up to four Alpha launches this year and up to six in 2025. Lockheed Martin, which stated on June 5 that it had signed a contract with Firefly for at least 15 and up to 25 Alpha launches through 2029, is expected to be the next launch customer.
Lockheed will launch a “dedicated commercial mission” on the next Alpha, Firefly confirmed in its post-launch statement. Later in the year, Firefly’s Elytra tug will be used for a responsive space demonstration mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on another Alpha.