The rocket rumbled on the launch pad, blasted off with fiery force and, minutes later, punched through Earth's lower atmosphere and into orbit.
It was the landmark launch that hundreds of people, mostly based in the Austin area, have been working on for years at Cedar Park-based rocket company Firefly Aerospace Inc. The company declared the launch and subsequent satellite deployments a "100% mission success."
“With the success of this flight, Firefly has announced to the world there is a new orbital launch vehicle, available today, with a capacity that is pivotal to our commercial and government customers,” CEO Bill Weber stated. “Proving our flight and deployment capabilities on only our second attempt is a testament to the maturity of our technology and the expertise of our team."
Firefly's launch occurred just after midnight Oct. 1 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California. The rocket deployed satellites from a NASA teachers education program, Teachers in Space, and Libre Space Foundation.
Firefly said the achievement makes it the first company to reach orbit from U.S. soil on only its second attempt. Its Alpha rocket can carry payloads up to 1,300 kilograms into orbit. That puts it in the “medium-lift” category of rockets, an area "screaming to be addressed," Weber told CNBC.
Spaceflight Now reported that Firefly joins an exclusive club of U.S. companies that have reached orbit, along with SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, and Astra.
Firefly's first attempt, a little more than a year ago, was terminated shortly after launch because one of its four engines stopped working and safety crews blew it up as a precaution.
The twilight launch followed several delays in the prior few weeks, including one launch scrubbed for technical reasons and a weather delay.
Firefly has a third launch tentatively scheduled for November. And this is still early days for the company, the current iteration of which was founded by Tom Markusic, who is now chief technical advisor, in 2017. The previous company filed for bankruptcy in 2016, and its assets were purchased by a new leadership team that helped rebuild to this point.
The company is scheduled for six launches to deliver customer payloads to space in 2023. It has 12 more in 2024.
You can watch the launch in the YouTube video below. Liftoff begins one hour and 54 minutes into the recording by Everyday Astronaut.
