ASTRA’s Demonstration Launches From SLC-46 But Has An In-Flight Failure. All Payloads Are Lost!

Sadly on ASTRA’s 3rd attempt from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station SLC-46 at 3:00 PM EDT 2-10-22 for the first demonstration mission ELaNa-41 with NASA liftoff was successfully but an in-flight failure caused the rocket to not reach orbit and all payloads on board were lost! The two previous scrubs was an issue with a radar station needed for tracking the rocket going off line and the 2nd scrub was a minor telemetry issue just as the engines ignited.

The company will discuss the failure after reviewing all of their launch data in a future announcement. The current statement on Twitter reads: “We experienced an issue during today’s flight that resulted in the payloads not being delivered to orbit. We are deeply sorry to our customers @NASA and the small satellite teams. More information will be provided after we complete a data review.”

ASTRA has reached orbit only one time previously on its last flight from Kodiak Alaska.

Photo Credit Scott Schilke for spacenews.lu and space-news.es from Jetty Park Cocoa Beach FL.