Astra launch a failure when upper stage shuts down prematurely
Capitalism in space: A launch attempt today by Astra of two NASA weather cubesats, designed to study the evolution of storms in the tropics, was a failure when the upper stage engine shut down prematurely.
This was the second launch failure for Astra out of three launch attempts in 2022. Both this failure and the February 10th failure occurred after the first stage has successfully done its job. The first was due to the failure of the fairings to separate. Today the fairing ejected properly, but then the second stage engine failed.
The launch however did illustrate something quite profound. Though it occurred about one hour and forty-three minutes into its two hour launch window, the launch team was able to recycle the count three times due to various issues and still launch. What makes this significant is that such quick countdown recycles have now become very routine.
When SpaceX did its first quick countdown recycle back during its first Falcon-1 launches in the 2000s it was astonishing, as NASA would never do such a thing. If a NASA shuttle launch aborted close to launch, the agency would always stand down for at least a day to figure things out. Even today, its ability to do a quick countdown recycle with its SLS rocket is almost impossible, as shown during its first attempt to do a dress rehearsal countdown of SLS in April. With each abort the agency had to reschedule for the next day or even later. It had little ability to quickly turn things around.
Private enterprise has since proven that such slow operations are inefficient and unnecessary.
Meanwhile, Astra needs to fix this issue and launch again. It was able to investigate and fix the fairing issue that caused that February launch failure in just over a month. Hopefully it can do the same again.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: A launch attempt today by Astra of two NASA weather cubesats, designed to study the evolution of storms in the tropics, was a failure when the upper stage engine shut down prematurely.
This was the second launch failure for Astra out of three launch attempts in 2022. Both this failure and the February 10th failure occurred after the first stage has successfully done its job. The first was due to the failure of the fairings to separate. Today the fairing ejected properly, but then the second stage engine failed.
The launch however did illustrate something quite profound. Though it occurred about one hour and forty-three minutes into its two hour launch window, the launch team was able to recycle the count three times due to various issues and still launch. What makes this significant is that such quick countdown recycles have now become very routine.
When SpaceX did its first quick countdown recycle back during its first Falcon-1 launches in the 2000s it was astonishing, as NASA would never do such a thing. If a NASA shuttle launch aborted close to launch, the agency would always stand down for at least a day to figure things out. Even today, its ability to do a quick countdown recycle with its SLS rocket is almost impossible, as shown during its first attempt to do a dress rehearsal countdown of SLS in April. With each abort the agency had to reschedule for the next day or even later. It had little ability to quickly turn things around.
Private enterprise has since proven that such slow operations are inefficient and unnecessary.
Meanwhile, Astra needs to fix this issue and launch again. It was able to investigate and fix the fairing issue that caused that February launch failure in just over a month. Hopefully it can do the same again.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Astra and these other small launch companies need to come up with a better way for their livestream hosts to handle their inevitable failures on camera. It’s obvious you had a problem. Just say so.
I thought I saw some unusually abrupt and large 2nd-stage nozzle movements moments before the failure, and heard a groan when the display became obviously mis-aligned with the expected trajectory.
But to your point, Patrick, yes it is a bit off-putting to be left clueless when something goes wrong. The sudden transition from bonhomie to dead air feels inappropriate.
Yes, it is true that the launch team will be busy, but in this type of failure, nobody is going to be able to recover the situation anyway, and one person should be designated to inform the audience that there had been a catastrophic failure and the mission is lost.
Personally, my biggest complaint about the announcers during the live feed had to do with the guy. How many times can you say “Gotcha!”?
Not Enough….
Nien Enough. !!!
??? ????????….
Now WE return to your normal
Boring programming……
Already in progress from
Progressives.
Why are they wearing masks?
If we are assembling the dream-team for color commentary, I vote for John Innsbrucker and that girl from Rocketlab.
wayne: Because there is a sad element of stupidity in Astra’s management, that suggests an explanation for the launch failures.
If you watched closely, during the longest hold three of four people in that mission control had dropped their masks so they covered only their chin and neck. They obviously knew the masks were absurd.
I want that soccer announcer who screams GGGOOOAALLLLLL!!!!!
” . . . and that girl from Rocketlab.”
That Girl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Girl
Blair–
While I was enamored with That Girl, I meant this lady–> Murielle Baker, Senior Communications Advisor, Rocket Lab.
https://youtu.be/6nODVPGHQcc?t=492
Kate Tice ❤️
I am surprised we have not heard anything about the FAA findings on SpaceX yet, either here or elsewhere. Do you think we will soon?
Ray Van Dune: No update from the FAA, as yet. They will either publish their findings today, or delay again. That they have not yet announced a delay strongly suggests they intend to publish later today.
I am concerned there is some last-minute intervention going on in the FAA EAP. If Trump was President I wouldn’t be worried. As is…
See my most recent post.
Ray Van Dune–
–can’t forget Miss Tice!
https://www.katetice.com/