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Saturday, August 28, 2021
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Astra LV0006 Orbital Test Flight—Second Attempt
After reviewing data, we expect to make our next launch attempt today at 2pm PT. Streaming live on @NASASpaceFlight pic.twitter.com/jhSN1xbvs2
— Chris Kemp (@Kemp) August 28, 2021
The launch window opens at 21:00 UTC on 2021-08-28.
Update: Launch failure—that was one weird launch. Immediately after liftoff, the rocket appeared to lose thrust and slide sideways like some of the early V-2 launches but, instead of flipping over and blowing up, recovered and continued to climb. But then, at 02:32 after liftoff, the engine cut off, something appeared to separate from the rocket, and the call “Termination sent” was heard. The rocket went all Kerbal, tumbling, and the rocket camera downlink was cut off.
Launch failure confirmed. Fatal problem happened at 33 km altitude at 22:37:32 UTC, 2.5 min into flight. But amazing it got that far after the initial sideways skid at launch pic.twitter.com/CGJaUGj0W2
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) August 28, 2021
Update:
In a post-launch media briefing, Astra CEO Chris Kemp says that 1 of the 5 Delphin engines on Stage 1 shut down less than 1 second into flight.
— Thomas Burghardt (@TGMetsFan98) August 29, 2021
About 2.5 minutes into flight, the range commanded shutdown of all 5 engines.
2021-08-29 00:12 UTC
Posted at August 28, 2021 18:42