Skip to main content

Rocket startup Astra makes it to orbit on 4th attempt

The rocket startup Astra has finally made it to orbit with its Rocket 3, successfully reaching orbit on its fourth attempt. “The team worked hard for this,” Astra CEO Chris Kemp wrote on Twitter. “We’re just getting started, folks.”

The fourth launch by rocket startup Astra on Saturday, November 20 succeeded in making it to orbit for the first time.
The fourth launch by rocket startup Astra on Saturday, November 20 succeeded in making it to orbit for the first time. NASASpaceflight

The mission, coded LV0007, launched from Astra’s site in Kodiak, Alaska at 1:16 a.m. ET on Saturday, November 20. For this mission, the rocket was not carrying any real payload but instead carried a test or dummy payload for the U.S. Space Force. It successfully reached orbit, marking the first time that Astra has achieved this feat.

Recommended Videos

A tweet from Kemp confirmed that the rocket made it to orbit “at our targeted 86.0-degree inclination at an altitude of 500km [310 miles]”:

Astra just reached orbit! 7.61km/sec at our targeted 86.0 degree inclination at an altitude of 500km. The team worked hard for this. We’re just getting started, folks. #AdAstra pic.twitter.com/NiMhCEsuCI

— Chris Kemp (@Kemp) November 20, 2021

There has been a long road for Astra to reach this achievement, with three previous launches failing to reach orbit. Most recently, it launched its Rocket 3 on Saturday, August 28 this year, but the rocket lifted off the launch pad and drifted at an angle before taking off upward. The rocket made it into the air but the mission had to be shut down several minutes into the flight as it had drifted off its planned trajectory. The problem was believed to be due to an issue with the Delphin engines, five of which power the rocket.

With the successful launch today, Astra joins the small number of private companies which have proven capable of launching to orbit. Following launch, the first stage Delphin engines fired for around three minutes, carrying the rocket upward before it separated its second stage. As well as the five Delphin engines which lift the rocket off the ground, the Rocket 3 also has a single second stage Aether engine which is designed to perform in a vacuum and which fired after separation. Once the Aether engine had completed its burn, the craft entered orbit and ran a simulation of deploying its payload.

If you would like to watch the launch for yourself, a video stream of the events is available for playback on the NASA Spaceflight channel.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
SpaceX shares stunning close-up footage of Starship engines firing up on 8th flight test
The Starship's Raptor engines igniting for the rocket's eighth flight test.

SpaceX launched its mighty Starship rocket for the eighth time last week. The mission was a bit of mixed bag, with the team successfully catching the first-stage Super Heavy booster on its return to the launchpad, but losing the Starship spacecraft in a midair explosion minutes after stage separation. The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company is now looking into what went wrong.

After each Starship test, SpaceX usually releases video clips showing the mission's key moments. On Sunday, it shared some extraordinary footage (below) captured from below the booster as it launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The slowed-down video shows the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines firing up as the enormous 120-meter-tall vehicle leaves the launchpad.

Read more
How to watch SpaceX’s 8th Starship flight test on Thursday
SpaceX's Super Heavy launch during the fifth test flight of the Starship.

[Update: SpaceX has moved the targeted launch date to Thursday, March 6.]

SpaceX has confirmed that it’s targeting Thursday, March 6, for the eighth test of the Starship, the most powerful rocket ever to fly. Read on for details on how to watch a livestream of the upcoming flight.

Read more
Watch SpaceX’s cinematic trailer for Friday’s Starship rocket launch
SpaceX's Starship rocket launching in January 2024.

SpaceX is making final preparations for the eighth flight test of its Starship megarocket on Friday.

As part of the buildup, the Elon Musk-led spaceflight company has just shared a cinematic look at the Starship’s most recent flight test, which took place in January.

Read more