Rocket 3.2 launched yesterday out of Kodiak, Alaska A thread recapping our flight:
Rocket 3.2 had a clean lift-off at 12:55pm PT
At T+57 seconds, Rocket 3.2 reached Max-Q
At T+145 to T+153, Rocket 3.2 crossed the Karman line entering outer space and successfully completed fairing separation, stage separation and upper stage ignition
The upper stage continued to burn for six minutes and 48 seconds, precisely reaching the target apogee of 380 km at 7.2 km/s. Rocket 3.2 then successfully sent a signal simulating deployment of a satellite
We will be sharing more details on our blog. In the meantime, for more photos from our launch, check out our Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/astraphotos/
"FAILURE" in the title is definitely not what I would use. Given that they didn't plan on actually making orbit until flight 3.3, this flight accomplished all of their planned objectives and then some. Perhaps we can just change "FAILURE" to "Sub-orbital".
Seems like if SpaceX Starship was a success even though the final step failed, why couldn't we call this Astra flight a success (although partial) ??
Quote from: lonestriker on 12/16/2020 02:40 pm"FAILURE" in the title is definitely not what I would use. Given that they didn't plan on actually making orbit until flight 3.3, this flight accomplished all of their planned objectives and then some. Perhaps we can just change "FAILURE" to "Sub-orbital".Their press kit explicitly listed a "TARGET ORBIT: Inclination: 98.1 degrees, Altitude: 380 kilometers"Rocket 3.2 fell short of orbit. It was a good test flight, but it fell short of its stated goal. That's a launch vehicle failure. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: edkyle99 on 12/16/2020 07:55 pmQuote from: lonestriker on 12/16/2020 02:40 pm"FAILURE" in the title is definitely not what I would use. Given that they didn't plan on actually making orbit until flight 3.3, this flight accomplished all of their planned objectives and then some. Perhaps we can just change "FAILURE" to "Sub-orbital".Their press kit explicitly listed a "TARGET ORBIT: Inclination: 98.1 degrees, Altitude: 380 kilometers"Rocket 3.2 fell short of orbit. It was a good test flight, but it fell short of its stated goal. That's a launch vehicle failure. - Ed KyleIt was a failure as much as the last Starship test flight was a "failure". The objective for both was NOT a completely flawless flight, but to make a big progress towards that. Both checked in on that goal.The customer of this flight was Astra themselves. Customer's wish was to make progress, customer is very happy about the result, that is not a failure.Astra from the beginnig said that the goal is to make it to orbit within three launches. If Rocket 3.3 does not make it, that would be a failure.Thread title should be "Partial success" IMHO.
ASTRA MAKES IT TO SPACE!DECEMBER 17, 2020December 15th, 2020 was a historic day for Astra and America, as we joined a small, elite group of privately funded companies that have made it to space. We couldn’t be more proud that our team accomplished this milestone in the face of so much adversity this year. Only three months after our last orbital launch attempt, we were back in Kodiak with the goal of a nominal first stage burn, followed by fairing separation and stage separation. We achieved all of these objectives and more!Rocket 3.2 lifted off from the Alaskan coast on December 15th at 12:55 pm PT followed by more than two minutes of a successful first stage flight. A few seconds later, we completed a nominal stage separation and ignition of the upper stage, and blasted past the Kármán line, the border between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Almost seven minutes later, traveling over 16,000 miles per hour (Mach 21), Astra’s upper stage engine shut down nominally after depleting all of its fuel. Rocket 3.2 precisely achieved its target altitude of 380 kilometers at 7.2 km/sec… just short of orbital velocity of 7.68 km/sec.Our data shows that all of the rocket’s hardware and software performed exceptionally well, and that only a small adjustment to the mixture ratio of fuel and oxidizer stands between us and our first customer payload delivery in a few months. Most importantly, this means that Astra can immediately begin delivering for our customers. As of today, we have contracted over two dozen launches, representing over 100 spacecraft. We are immediately executing our plan to ramp up of rocket production and launch operations.Our next rocket is nearly complete and we’ll be identifying opportunities based on yesterday’s data on how to further improve the vehicle performance ahead of our next launch. This rapid iteration is unique to Astra and separates us from other launch providers in the industry.To say that 2020 has been a challenge is an understatement and Astra has shared many of the struggles that much of the world has experienced this year. However, we are grateful to close out this year with the outcome of yesterday’s launch as well as being announced as one of NASA’s mission partners. It is more than we could’ve hoped for as a team. Thanks to our incredible team and their families, as well as our customers, suppliers, partners, investors and all of our fans!Per Aspera Ad Astra!Chris and Adam
