Continuing the iterative path toward reaching orbit, Astra attempted its third orbital launch on Aug. 28. The first Rocket 3.3 vehicle, designated LV0006, lifted off on Saturday, Aug. 28 at 3:35 PM PDT (22:35 UTC). Less than one second after liftoff, an engine on the first stage failed, causing a sideways ascent off the pad. LV0006 temporarily recovered and reached approximately 50 km altitude before the range commanded the remaining engines to shut down, ending the mission.
This was Astra’s first launch with a payload onboard, albeit only a mass simulator. This test payload was part of the STP-27AD1 mission for the United States Space Force’s Space Test Program. The goal of the flight was to demonstrate Astra’s orbital launch capability.
“We hope to learn a lot,” said Astra Founder, Chairman, and CEO Chris Kemp, in an interview with NASASpaceflight prior to launch. “This’ll be a test flight of our improved Rocket 3. We’ll be taking a test payload from the Space Force, and hopefully, we’ll have a full flight so we’ll be able to collect a full set of data for them.”
The mission lifted off from LP-3B at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. This was the same launch complex that hosted the Rocket 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 launch campaigns. Kodiak’s relatively quiet launch schedule and remote location offer a favorable launch site for early test flights.
“This will be the first launch of an orbital launch system,” said Kemp. “What we’ll be doing is we’ll be launching to a very specific orbit and inclination; we’ll be watching that closely. We have a test payload that’s been instrumented, so we’re gonna be looking at the vibrational environments, the acoustic environments, the thermal environments so that we can give all that data to the Space Force. So this payload will not be deployed from the spacecraft, but we’re going to measure our ability to get it exactly where it needs to go.”
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After a pair of suborbital flights with Rockets 1.0 and 2.0, the Rocket 3.0 vehicle was tasked with Astra’s entry into the DARPA launch challenge. This flight was ultimately precluded by a fire during a pre-launch rehearsal in March 2020.
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The Rocket 3.1 vehicle followed, making Astra’s first orbital launch attempt in September 2020. During first stage flight, a software issue caused the vehicle to fly off course, prompting the termination of the flight. No payloads were on board the rocket.
Just three months later, in December 2020, Astra launched Rocket 3.2 into space. For the first time, the two stages of the rocket successfully separated, and the upper stage performed a burn toward orbital velocity. Due to a fuel mixture issue, the upper stage shut down just 0.5 km/s short of achieving orbit. Like Rocket 3.1, there were no payloads onboard.
The Astra team has since upgraded to Rocket 3.3, which addressed the issues discovered last December along with a small tank stretch to fit more propellant. The wealth of data from the prior flights and the completion of these changes had given Kemp and the Astra team confidence in LV0006’s launch.
“I think we’ll learn a lot, and I certainly hope we get a full flight in. A lot of changes we’ve made, and we’ve incorporated all of the data from the complete flight back in December into this new version. And regardless of what the outcome of the flight is, we’ll take whatever we learned, we’ll make whatever changes, and we’ll fly again.”
On the other hand, the personnel and procedures in use have remained largely the same.
“We’re really very similar to the previous launch. We have about half a dozen people up in Alaska, we have about half a dozen people in the launch control room here, and we’re going to be running the launch using a lot of the same software and systems that we used in December.”
The rocket’s first stage is powered by five electric pump-fed Delphin engines fueled by RP-X kerosene and liquid oxygen, each producing 6,500 pounds of thrust.
This stage was tested in a static fire on August 4, where all five engines were briefly fired to ensure all of the vehicle’s systems were operating properly. After the completion of this test, the rocket and its support equipment were shipped to Alaska in shipping containers, along with a small Red Team to conduct the launch.
A successful hot fire test ensures a vehicle is ready for launch. Earlier this month on August 4, LV0006 completed its hot fire test, also known as a static test. Here’s how it went: https://t.co/44SJy9roVM #AdAstra pic.twitter.com/VypqX1i0IU
— Astra (@Astra) August 23, 2021
The vehicle and team arrived in Kodiak the week before launch. This quick time needed to deploy the launcher is crucial to ramping up to daily launches.
This simple approach to performing a launch is part of Astra’s plan to launch not just from established spaceports, but anywhere with a concrete pad and an internet connection.
“We can basically launch anywhere we have a license, which means we just need to find a place where we’re far enough away from population centers to not bother people. And we’re investigating over a dozen different locations, both domestically and abroad.”
“Our system can be completely shipped and unpacked and we can launch a rocket within a few days. So you can kind of see how that enables us to be very flexible, and we’re going to continue to be able to develop and iterate on the entire launch system including the spaceport at that same rate.”
The week prior to the opening of LV0006’s launch window, Astra received a launch operator’s license from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), authorizing Astra to operate orbital launches from Kodiak through 2026.
Thrilled that @Astra now authorized to conduct launches out of Kodiak through 2026 with @FAA launch operator’s license! #AdAstra pic.twitter.com/QKn3mgRuwY
— Chris Kemp (@Kemp) August 19, 2021
Once LV0006 departed Kodiak, the vehicle started to fly south over the Pacific Ocean towards a 70-degree inclination orbit, targeting an altitude of 415 kilometers. Once the propellants in stage one were depleted, the rocket’s fairing and upper stage were to separate, followed shortly after by the ignition of stage two, all approximately three minutes after liftoff.
Rocket 3.3’s upper stage is powered by a single pressure-fed Aether engine which produces 740 pounds of thrust. Once the upper stage and mass simulator reach orbital velocity, the engine will shut down, and a signal simulating payload deployment will be received. With no actual payload deployment planned, this will conclude the test flight approximately eight and a half minutes after launch.
A successful orbital insertion would have cleared the way for the first satellites to begin launching on Astra rockets. Customers on Astra’s manifest include the Space Force, NASA, Planet Labs, and Spire Global.
(Lead image: LV0006 lifts off from the pad at Kodiak – via NASASpaceflight/Astra live stream)
