Astra LV0007 - STP-27AD2 - Kodiak - 20 November 2021 (0616 UTC)

[OneSpeed]

Here is a plot of the LV-0007 mission telemetry.

The webcast provided data updates once every three seconds, so the acceleration has a rather stepped appearance compared to webcasts with more frequent updates.

[SPKirsch]

https://twitter.com/Astra/status/1462783873381593089

Orbit. ✅ Astra successfully completed its first commercial orbital launch for the @SpaceForceDoD late Friday night, November 19, 2021, PST: https://astra.com/news/astra-reaches-orbit #AdAstra

[LouScheffer]

So if there is only natural decay that is misleading

Agreed. [..] Couldn't they show that it could get to orbit but not stay in orbit by going into a highly elliptical orbit which could deorbit much sooner? Or is that difficult from a performance perspective?

The gossip is that they did insert in 500km circular orbit and the 438 perigee was due to a deliberate second burn. It's not clear to me why it was not a full deorbit burn. I haven't heard if that was also deliberate or an incomplete burn. It'd be nice if they said something about that publicly because that 438 just doesn't sound nice.

It may not be entirely Astra's choice.  They had a customer for this mission, which stayed attached to the second stage, meaning if they deorbit the second stage, the payload is lost as well.  The customer may want more time in orbit, or a particular orbit. 

[trimeta]

So if there is only natural decay that is misleading

Agreed. [..] Couldn't they show that it could get to orbit but not stay in orbit by going into a highly elliptical orbit which could deorbit much sooner? Or is that difficult from a performance perspective?

The gossip is that they did insert in 500km circular orbit and the 438 perigee was due to a deliberate second burn. It's not clear to me why it was not a full deorbit burn. I haven't heard if that was also deliberate or an incomplete burn. It'd be nice if they said something about that publicly because that 438 just doesn't sound nice.

It may not be entirely Astra's choice.  They had a customer for this mission, which stayed attached to the second stage, meaning if they deorbit the second stage, the payload is lost as well.  The customer may want more time in orbit, or a particular orbit.

My understanding was that the customer's main goal for this payload was "characterize the launch environment of Rocket 3, so we know what we're buying for future launches." Sticking around in orbit after simulated payload deploy doesn't help with that, and if anything characterizing the deorbit properties would probably be preferred.

[abaddon]

A little LTTP here, a belated congratulations to Astra for reaching orbit!  There’s another rocket company who reached orbit on their fourth attempt…

[LouScheffer]

Here is a plot of the LV-0007 mission telemetry.

The first stage acceleration peaks quite high, at about 8G.  Are smallsats usually rated for this, or will Astra have to throttle down (as most providers do) on commercial missions?  Is there a payload user manual?

[ZachS09]

A little LTTP here, a belated congratulations to Astra for reaching orbit!  There’s another rocket company who reached orbit on their fourth attempt…

Four-leaf clover on Astra’s mission patches for good measure?

[trimeta]

A little LTTP here, a belated congratulations to Astra for reaching orbit!  There’s another rocket company who reached orbit on their fourth attempt…

Four-leaf clover on Astra’s mission patches for good measure?

I think during the webcast some mention was made of "lucky number seven," so they could lean in that direction.

[thirtyone]

So just a follow-up... doesn't look like Astra S2 has come even close to doing anything remotely close to intentional deorbiting? I have serious questions about whether or not they could have had the performance to seriously deorbit the stage, or maybe restarts failed? I don't have any issues with the reality that an early launch is unlikely to have the performance available to deorbit the stage, but I do when they claim that they're going to when they really can't.

NORAD 49494 - ASTRA DUMMY MASS is still at 507 x 443 km.