Astra Space Targets Sunday for 1st of 3 NASA Summer Launches From Space Coast

Astra Space announced it could launch as early as Sunday on the first of three missions to send six tropical weather satellites into orbit for NASA.

The Rocket 3.3 named LV0010 had a successful test fire at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 46 this week, and the company said the potential launch is awaiting a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The payload is two of six small satellites that are part of the TROPICS mission, which stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats.

The launch will be the second time Astra has attempted to lift off from the Space Coast. A previous launch attempt this year was able to lift off, but not successful deploying its payloads. The company has made two successful orbital launches from Alaska.

The small rocket stands only 38 feet tall with a payload capacity of 331 pounds. The company leases use of the Canaveral launch pad from Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency.

The Alameda, California-based company was contracted for three launches to place the six NASA satellites into three different orbits during a 120-day window before July 31, 2022. The TROPICS mission, which will be run out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory in collaboration with NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, seeks to provide more reliable measurements of tropical storms and hurricanes looking at precipitation, temperature and humidity.

An exact time for the first launch attempt has not been announced.

Astra joins SpaceX and United Launch Alliance on the growing list of private rockets launching from the Space Coast. Before the end of 2023, both Relativity Space’s 3-D printed Terran 1 and Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket could see their first action from Canaveral, while ULA also plans on welcoming its new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur.

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