The launch was still a bit of a nail biter, though.
. Now the company can say it has successfully reached orbit a second time. “This has not been easy,” Kemp said during the livestream. “We had a flight just over a month ago, and the team worked really hard — every day, every weekend, many nights — to quickly identify the issues we had on the flight, get another rocket back up to Kodiak, and fly it. And it was absolutely the right thing to do.”
Astra’s February flight, the first time the company launched from Florida, was supposed to put four small satellites into orbit for NASA. Astra’s rocket launched as expected, but experienced a problem during rocket stage separation — when the vehicle intentionally breaks apart and sheds weight as it moves along its path into space. Live footage of the flight showed the rocket moving uncontrollably after the stage separation procedure took place.
The separation mechanisms were fired in an incorrect order, which resulted in off-nominal movement of the fairing that caused an electrical disconnection. Due to the disconnection, the last separation mechanism never received its command to open, which prevented the fairing from separating completely before upper stage ignition.
Astra said it also found a separate software issue that caused the rocket to tumble after the stage separation. The company explained how it identified the root causes of both issues and developed ways to address the problems. Today’s flight had payloads for three customers on board, a mission that had been arranged through a company called Spaceflight, which helps match satellites to rockets going to orbit. The customers included Portland State Aerospace Society and NearSpace Launch.Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week.Please confirm your subscription to Verge Deals via the verification email we just sent you.
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