Firefly Alpha | FLTA006 (Message in a Booster)

Launch Failure

Problem during stage separation and second stage ignition caused disintegration of the separated 1st stage and the loss of the Lightning engine nozzle extension on the 2nd stage, substantially reducing the engine’s thrust. 2nd stage reached 320 km in altitude but did not reach orbital velocity, eventually impacted the Pacific Ocean north of Antarctica.

L - -- : -- : -- : --

Launch Window

April 29, 2025, 1:37 p.m. - April 29, 2025, 2:29 p.m.

Watch the Launch

FLTA006 (Message in a Booster)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Technology

Low Earth Orbit Space Launch Complex 2W Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA Probability: 90%

Sixth flight of the Firefly Alpha small satellite launcher, launching the demonstration mission for Lockheed Martin's new LM400 satellite bus, which will carry a communications payload. The satellite bus is customizable to support different missions, including remote sensing, communications, imagery and radar Earth observations. It can also support different kinds of orbits and launch configurations.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Feb. 11, 2025, 4:24 p.m.

Launch order swapped with that of TacSat.

hitura-nobad • April 29, 2025, 1:37 p.m.

Liftoff!

Cosmic_Penguin • April 29, 2025, 6:12 p.m.

Launch failure confirmed.

Cosmic_Penguin • March 26, 2025, 1:22 a.m.

Reverted back to NET March TBD with cancellations of NOTAMs for March 26/27.

Cosmic_Penguin • March 27, 2025, 1:24 p.m.

NET March 30, TBC.

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Firefly Alpha

Family:
Configuration:

Firefly Alpha (Firefly α) is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle developed by the American aerospace company Firefly Aerospace to cover the commercial small satellite launch market. Alpha is intended to provide launch options for both full vehicle and ride share customers.

See Details

Specifications

Stages
2
Length
29.0 m
Diameter
1.82 m
Fairing Diameter
2.21 m
Launch Mass
54.0 T
Thrust
736.0 kN

Family

Name
Firefly Alpha
Family
―
Variant
―
Alias
―
Full Name
Firefly Alpha

Payload Capacity

Launch Cost
$15000000
Low Earth Orbit
1000.0 kg
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
―
Direct Geostationary
―
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
630.0 kg

Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace

(FA)

CEO: Peter Schumacher Founded: 2014 Successes: 3 Failures: 3 Pending: 4

Agency Type:

Firefly Aerospace is an American private aerospace firm based in Austin, Texas, that develops small and medium-sized launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit.

INFO WIKI

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