CNN
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Firefly, a Texas-based commercial rocket company, launched a rocket into space Friday morning after an attempt about a year ago ended in an explosion.
Company Announces “100% Mission Success” Twitter.
The Alpha rocket launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:01 a.m. PT.
It was originally scheduled for a Sept. 11 launch but was canceled due to a drop in the rocket’s helium pressure, affiliate KSBY reported.
“Alpha is an economical small satellite launch vehicle,” Vandenberg reports on his website. “The Firefly carried three educational payloads and was successfully inserted into an elliptical transfer orbit, gliding to apogee, and cyclically burning.”
This is the company’s second unmanned launch from Vandenberg.
In September 2021, a rocket appeared to lift off smoothly, but then malfunctioned. U.S. Space Force officials ordered the company to destroy the rocket in mid-air to prevent injury to people or property below. No one was injured.
Firefly and other commercial rocket companies are trying to make space a competitive place for business, not the only realm of government.