Rocket startup Astra aimed to send its Rocket 3 to orbit, but due to a problem in the engine, the rocket failed to reach orbit. The LV0006 rocket carried a test payload for the US space Force from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak and was aimed to showcase the company’s prowess to launch payloads into orbit.

This was Astra’s third orbital launch attempt, following previous launches which also did not make it to orbit. With the LV0006, the issue started right after the rocket took off. Within seconds of the launch one of the five engines, all of which should have been working, cut out. The rocket did manage to take off, but was moving at a very slow pace and it tipped in the air before correcting itself and moving upward.

Rocket went off course

After two and a half minutes of the flight, however, when the spacecraft was above 30 miles from the ground, the command unit shut the engines and ended the flight. The command was given because the rocket was moving off course, so after the engines cut off, it crashed into the ocean without causing any damage. The company will be looking into the problem.

“We regret that we were unable to accomplish all mission objectives for the U.S. Space Force; however, we captured a tremendous amount of data from this test flight,” said Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Astra. “We will incorporate learnings from this test into future launch vehicles, including LV0007, which is currently in production.”

Investigation to reveal the cause

Astra also announced it will carry out an investigation to know more about what went wrong during the launch, and that it will be working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In a Q&A, Kemp said he was aware of the risks and difficulties of launching a rocket. “Whenever you make any changes to a system, you’re introducing the risk that you are wrong,” he said. “The thing you change could be your undoing. We’ve done a lot of testing and risk analysis. Some changes are only possible to validate through a flight, but our collective experience is that one should be very humble with rockets.”