Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is authorized to conduct:(a) A flight of the Alpha launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 2 West at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), transporting its FLTA001 mission with multiple payloads to low Earth orbit; and(b) pre-flight ground operations at VAFB associated with the flights, as identified in paragraph (a) of this license, of the Alpha launch vehicle.
Per an official at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the launch of Firefly's Alpha rocket has been postponed "indefinitely." No reason given.
Eric, Firefly’s launch is not 'postponed indefinitely'. Firefly received our FAA launch license on Monday, is in final integrated vehicle to pad testing, and is preparing to perform the our pre-launch static fire soon.”
Speaking of Eric Berger tweets, I wonder if this one may give a hint as to what's delaying the Firefly launch:https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1385331207399825413
SLC-2W and SLC-6 really aren't shared in any significant sense aside from technically existing on VAFB property. They're a full 12 miles apart.
Quote from: vaporcobra on 04/23/2021 01:03 amSLC-2W and SLC-6 really aren't shared in any significant sense aside from technically existing on VAFB property. They're a full 12 miles apart.How far away are SLC-3W and SLC-4E? I was thinking of how a Titan IV launch from the latter indefinitely delayed SpaceX's plans to launch Falcon 1 from the former. But perhaps those two are much closer than the Firefly Alpha and Delta IV pads are to each other.
Beautiful evening at Firefly’s Vandenberg SLC-2 launch facility.
Markusic said that Firefly “ran into some problems with readiness of the launch site” at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and also had a significant delay from a supplier of the rocket’s flight termination system – a key piece required for the rocket to launch.“Just from our side, we did not get the launch site ready as quickly as we thought we could. We kind of miscalculated on where we were in readiness and that’s on us. This is something we didn’t do well,” Markusic said.The CEO added that Firefly hopes to launch Alpha by mid-June, but emphasized that an inaugural launch comes with “a lot of unknowns.”
Apparently now scheduled for mid-June.About the problems behind the delay, from the article:QuoteMarkusic said that Firefly “ran into some problems with readiness of the launch site” at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and also had a significant delay from a supplier of the rocket’s flight termination system – a key piece required for the rocket to launch.“Just from our side, we did not get the launch site ready as quickly as we thought we could. We kind of miscalculated on where we were in readiness and that’s on us. This is something we didn’t do well,” Markusic said.The CEO added that Firefly hopes to launch Alpha by mid-June, but emphasized that an inaugural launch comes with “a lot of unknowns.”
Quote from: Fmedici on 05/04/2021 01:30 pmApparently now scheduled for mid-June.About the problems behind the delay, from the article:QuoteMarkusic said that Firefly “ran into some problems with readiness of the launch site” at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and also had a significant delay from a supplier of the rocket’s flight termination system – a key piece required for the rocket to launch.“Just from our side, we did not get the launch site ready as quickly as we thought we could. We kind of miscalculated on where we were in readiness and that’s on us. This is something we didn’t do well,” Markusic said.The CEO added that Firefly hopes to launch Alpha by mid-June, but emphasized that an inaugural launch comes with “a lot of unknowns.”...Is Firefly sourcing their AFTS from Rocket Lab? Peter Beck has said they intend to make their AFTS available to other companies, and the significant delay matches up with Rocket Lab's public comments about their delay, but I would be surprised to find out they already have a customer.
Quote from: Pueo on 05/05/2021 11:44 pmQuote from: Fmedici on 05/04/2021 01:30 pmApparently now scheduled for mid-June.About the problems behind the delay, from the article:QuoteMarkusic said that Firefly “ran into some problems with readiness of the launch site” at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and also had a significant delay from a supplier of the rocket’s flight termination system – a key piece required for the rocket to launch.“Just from our side, we did not get the launch site ready as quickly as we thought we could. We kind of miscalculated on where we were in readiness and that’s on us. This is something we didn’t do well,” Markusic said.The CEO added that Firefly hopes to launch Alpha by mid-June, but emphasized that an inaugural launch comes with “a lot of unknowns.”...Is Firefly sourcing their AFTS from Rocket Lab? Peter Beck has said they intend to make their AFTS available to other companies, and the significant delay matches up with Rocket Lab's public comments about their delay, but I would be surprised to find out they already have a customer.Rocket Lab isn't building its own AFTS, it's acquiring it from a NASA contractor and NASA's certification is what's been delaying Electron's Wallops debut and (in part) Alpha's first flight.
A beautiful day at Vandenberg Space Force Base SLC-2! #Firefly #MakingSpaceForEveryone
Yesterday Firefly performed a static fire test of the Alpha launch vehicle on its Vandenberg launch pad. The fully-fueled, flight-ready vehicle fired its first stage engines for fifteen seconds.
The test was successful and clears the way for Firefly to make its first launch attempt, currently scheduled for September 2.
Anyone have an idea on why the green, characteristically TEA-TEB looking flash was also seen at engine shutdown?Some kind of engine purge or some unintended engine rich combustion instead?
