Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket explodes during preflight test

We’ll likely have to wait a while to see Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket take to the skies again.

The first stage of the rocket that Firefly was prepping to make Alpha’s seventh-ever flight exploded on Monday (Sept. 29) during a preflight trial.

“During testing at Firefly’s facility in Briggs, Texas, the first stage of Firefly’s Alpha Flight 7 rocket experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage,” the Texas-based company wrote in an update on Monday afternoon. “Proper safety protocols were followed, and all personnel are safe. The company is assessing the impact to its stage test stand, and no other facilities were impacted.”

It’s another setback for Firefly, which suffered a failure during its most recent Alpha launch this past April.

During that mission, called “Message in a Booster,” Alpha’s first-stage booster broke apart shortly after separating from the upper stage. The anomaly damaged the upper stage’s engine nozzle, compromising its thrust and leading to the loss of the payload, Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite technology demonstrator.

Firefly traced the problem to heat buildup in the first stage, caused by a phenomenon known as “plume-induced flow separation.” Earlier this month, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration accepted the results of the company’s anomaly investigation and its mitigation plan, clearing Alpha to launch once again.

The two-stage Alpha, which stands 96.7 feet (29.6 meters) tall, debuted in September 2021. Just two of its six orbital launches to date have been fully successful.

Alpha’s seventh flight is slated to be another mission for Lockheed Martin, according to Firefly’s launch page. Firefly had been targeting a liftoff later this year; it’s too soon to predict how that schedule might change.

“Regular testing is part of Firefly’s philosophy — we test each critical component, engine, and vehicle stage to ensure it operates within our flight requirements before we ship to the launch pad,” the company wrote in Monday’s update. “We learn from each test to improve our designs and build a more reliable system. We will share more information on the path forward at a later date.”

Firefly doesn’t just build rockets. Indeed, it’s probably best known for its robotic Blue Ghost moon lander, the first of which aced its lunar mission for NASA in March of this year.