After a nearly two-month delay, Firefly Aerospace has announced a new launch window for its “Message in a Booster” mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Following a “range constraint” delay in early March, a new launch window is now set with the earliest opportunity for liftoff being Sunday, April 27, between 6:37 a.m. and 7:29 a.m.
A Firefly spokesperson says additional opportunities are available in the mornings through Thursday.
The launch of Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 tech demo is to “prove out the risk-reduction and pathfinding efforts the company has done for its multi-mission satellite bus,” according to Firefly.
This is the second mission Firefly is launching for Lockheed Martin and the first multi-launch agreement with the company, which reportedly “includes up to 25 missions over the next five years.”
“FLTA006 will further validate Alpha’s robust performance to take customers directly to their preferred orbits as the only operational 1 metric ton rocket,” Firefly states in the mission summary.
Last July, Firefly launched its Alpha Flight 5 mission for NASA from Vandenberg, deploying eight payloads.
The aerospace company has launched at least three prior times from Vandenberg, one exploding after liftoff in 2021.
