Welcome to edition 7.35 of Rocket Report! SpaceX’s Steamroller is still rolling, but for the first time in years it doesn’t look like it’s rolling downhill. After three years of perfect performance, the Spacex’s Falcon 9 Rocket has been suffering from several issues in recent months, due to the absence of launch failures and other serious malfunctions. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s next-generation Starship Rocket is also having problems. Kiko Dontchev, Vice President of SpaceX’s launch, addressed some (but not all) of these concerns I’ll post it on x this week. Despite the Falcon 9 issues, SpaceX maintains an incredible launch cadence. As of Thursday, SpaceX had started 28 Falcon flights from January 1st ahead of last year’s pace.
As always, we Submissions are welcomed by readers. If you don’t want to miss the issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on the AMP-enabled version of your site). Each report includes information on small, medium and heavy rockets, as well as a quick look at the next three launches on the calendar:
Preparing the Alfa Rocket for weekend releases. While Firefly Aerospace makes headlines for landing on the moon, that Alfa rocket Set it to start again Saturday morning from Vandenburg Space Force Base, California. The two-stage kerosene-fueled rocket launches a self-funded technology demonstration satellite for Lockheed Martin. This is the first of up to 25 launches Rocky Martin has booked with Fireflies in the next five years. The launch is the sixth flight of Alpha Rocket, which became the leader in the US commercial launch industry for its dedicated mission with a one-ton class of satellites.
Firefly OG …Alpha Rocket was Firefly’s first product and was a central part of the company’s development since 2014. Like Firefly itself, the Alpha Rocket program has experienced multiple iterations, including wholesale redesigns that were almost ten years ago. Certainly, Fireflies cannot claim the innovative first with the Alfa Rocket, as they can with the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander. But without the alpha, Fireflies aren’t where they are today. The Texas-based company is one of four US companies with operational orbital class rockets. One thing to note is how quickly a firefly can raise its alpha-firing cadence. The rocket flew once last year.
