American aerospace company Firefly Aerospace failed to deliver a Lockheed Martin demonstration satellite into orbit using its Firefly launch vehicle. During the launch, a technical failure occurred, as a result of which the second stage with the payload was unable to reach the designated orbit, after which it fell into the Pacific Ocean.
Image source: Firefly Aerospace/NASASpaceFlight.com
The Firefly rocket (FLTA0006) lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on April 29 at 09:37 local time (16:37 Moscow time). The flight proceeded normally until the first stage separated approximately 2 minutes 35 seconds after liftoff. A cloud of smoke formed between the two stages, but the second stage continued to climb, although debris was flying off it. The camera on the second stage also recorded this damage. It turned out that a malfunction occurred during first stage separation, which damaged the nozzle of the second stage’s sole Lightning engine.
This failure caused the second stage with the payload to fail to reach the required speed, which led to its crash. Firefly confirmed the information about the mission failure several hours after the launch. Telemetry data indicates that the second stage reached an altitude of 320 km, but did not reach orbital speed. This led to the booster re-entering the atmosphere and falling into the South Pacific Ocean near Antarctica. It is still unknown what exactly caused the failure during the rocket launch.
In terms of payload, the mission was planned to deliver Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 multi-mission demonstration satellite into orbit. The company planned to test the craft in space conditions, including testing the SmartSat software that allows the spacecraft’s system configuration to be changed. According to the source, the LM 400 platform is suitable for a “wide range of missions” and is capable of carrying a payload of up to 1,100 kg.
The current launch was the sixth for the Alpha launch vehicles. However, only the third and fifth launches, which took place in September 2023 and July 2024, respectively, were considered completely successful. The first Alpha launch in September 2021 ended in failure due to a technical glitch that caused the rocket to lose control a few minutes after liftoff. During the second launch in October 2022, the rocket reached the intended orbit, but the payload was placed in a lower orbit. This led to the payload quickly deorbiting.