Firefly Aerospace has received clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume Alpha rocket launches, four months after a stage separation failure ended the company's most recent mission.

The April 29 "Message in a Booster" flight, Alpha's sixth mission, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base through heavy fog. But just after stage separation, the rocket's first stage ruptured, sending a pressure wave into the second stage and damaging its Lightening engine nozzle extension.

The loss of thrust left the second stage three seconds short of orbital velocity, and the vehicle and payload safely impacted the Pacific Ocean north of Antarctica.

Lockheed Martin's LM 400 technology demonstrator was lost. The launch was the first of up to 25 missions Fi

See Full Page