Tag: Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Resumes Flights, Successfully Reaches Orbit

Aviation Week reports, “Firefly Aerospace has returned to flight after nearly one year, ready to resume its mission to bring additional launch capacity to hungry U.S. government and commercial space customers. The Alpha launch vehicle took off March 11 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg SFB in California at 5:50 p.m. PDT, following several attempts scrubbed due to high winds and atypical sensor readings. But with the weather and sensors finally cooperating, the small-lift rocket carried its cargo to orbit at last.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Video

Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket returns to flight. (Launch takes place at the 00:29 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube

Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha Rocket Cleared to Fly Again

SPACE reports, “The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared Firefly Aerospace to resume launches of its Alpha rocket. The approval follows a months-long review of the mission in April, during which the rocket’s first stage broke apart moments after separation and compromised the vehicle’s second stage.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Podcast: The Evolution of Multi-mission Orbital Vehicles

Space News reports, “In this episode of Space Minds, host Jeff Foust moderates the panel “Evolution of Multi-Mission Orbital Vehicles” recorded live on July 24” at 2025 ASCEND in Las Vegas.  Panelists include Col. Owen Stephens, USSF; Seth Lacy, USSF; Micahel Creech, Firefly Aerospace; and Israel “Fig” Figueroa, Firefly Aerospace.
Full Story (Space News)

Firefly Alpha Selected to Launch Earth Science SmallSat Mission for NASA

Space News reports, “NASA selected Firefly Aerospace to launch a trio of Earth science smallsats that will study the formation of storms. The agency said March 4 that it awarded a task order through its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract to Firefly to launch the three-satellite Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission. NASA did not disclose the value of the task order, a practice it has followed on other VADR awards. The INCUS satellites will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.”
Full Story (Space News)

Firefly Becomes First Commercial Company to Make a Successful Lunar Landing

Ars Technica reports, “Firefly Aerospace became the first commercial company to make a picture-perfect landing on the Moon early Sunday, touching down on an ancient basaltic plain, named Mare Crisium, to fulfill a $101 million contract with NASA. The lunar lander, called Blue Ghost, settled onto the Moon’s surface at 2:34 am CST (3:34 am EST; 08:34 UTC). A few dozen engineers in Firefly’s mission control room monitored real-time data streaming down from a quarter-million miles away.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander Now in Lunar Orbit

Spaceflight Now reports, “A robotic lander from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is now in orbit around the Moon and going through its final preparations to land in the coming weeks. On Thursday, the company announced that its Blue Ghost lander fired its main engine and thrusters for four minutes and 15 seconds in a maneuver called the Lunar Orbit Insertion, which put it in an elliptical orbit around the Moon.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Blue Ghost Mission 1 to Deliver NASA Electric Moon Dust Shield

SPACE reports, “NASA is sending a technology demonstrator to the moon on the upcoming private Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 in order to test how to repel and remove lunar dust using electricity … The EDS system will fly aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which will put a lunar lander on the moon’s surface later in 2024. A total of ten agency payloads will launch to the moon on Blue Ghost Mission 1, including the EDS prototype.”
Full Story (SPACE)

DoD Innovation Unit to Study Firefly Vehicle for Missions Beyond Earth Orbit

Space News reports, “The Defense Innovation Unit announced March 21 it has signed an agreement with Firefly Aerospace to study the potential use of the company’s Elytra orbital vehicle for missions beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit.” According to the article, once the study contract is complete, as many as two demonstration flights could occur, “in the region between GEO orbit and the moon, known as cislunar space.”
Full Story (Space News)