Astro an emerging private rocket company,
Astra has joined the ranks of privately held space enterprises that have successfully launched into orbit. Its Launch Vehicle 0007 (LV0007) lifted off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak Island, Alaska at 1:16 a.m. ET on Saturday, carrying a test payload for the US military. The 43-foot rocket launched smoothly and reached orbit roughly nine minutes later, 500 kilometres above Earth.
During a livestream after the launching, Astra CEO Chris Kemp remarked, 'The team has worked so hard on this for so many years.' 'Rapid serial numbers eight, nine, and ten are currently in production, so we're just getting started.'The successful launch comes after many failed attempts to reach space by the California-based firm. In March 2020, it attempted its first launch as part of the DARPA challenge, which assesses rocket companies' ability to respond to demands from the US military. Due to technical difficulties, Astra was unable to lift its rocket off the ground.
Astra attempted to reach orbit again later that year in September, but faults with the rocket's guidance system forced Astra to abort the mission. Three months later, Astra launched its Rocket 3.2 into space for the first time, but it was unable to successfully enter orbit due to a lack of fuel.
The most recent effort by Astra took place in August of this year. The LV0006 slipped over the launchpad after takeoff due to an engine failure, and the rocket barely made it to a height of 31 miles before Astra called the launch off.
Astra now joins Virgin Orbit, SpaceX, and Rocket Lab one of the very few privately-owned rockets to reach orbit in the United States. The complete launch of Astra may be seen on the NASASpaceflight YouTube channel.
