Astra plans mid-2026 first launch of Rocket 4

PARIS — Astra is targeting next summer for the first flight of its Rocket 4 vehicle as the company prepares to reenter the launch market.

In a presentation at the World Space Business Week conference here Sept. 17, Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, said the company was on track for a first launch of Rocket 4 in summer 2026 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Astra announced plans for Rocket 4 in 2022 and at one point projected a first flight of the vehicle in 2023 . Development, though, was hindered by problems with Astra’s smaller Rocket 3.3 vehicle, which was retired in mid-2022 after several failures, as well as financial issues that culminated in the company going private in July 2024 .

Sign up for First Up: From SpaceNews' Jeff Foust, a recap of the day's space industry news,