Astra’s NASA Mission Fails With Loss of Satellites Written 14 June 2022
Astra's Launch Vehicle 0010 (LV0010) lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida 12 June 2022. | Credit: VideoFromSpace; YouTube; framegrab
Reuters reported that Astra Space’s mission to send “tiny storm-monitoring NASA satellites to orbit” failed after a second-stage booster engine shut down 10 minutes after liftoff. The rocket was carrying two satellites designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory to “measure moisture and precipitation in tropical storm systems,” which were set to be the first batch of a six-satellite constellation managed by NASA. NASA Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen tweeted that the mission “offered a great opportunity for new science and launch capabilities.”
More Info (Reuters)
Video
Astra rocket launches on mission to deliver NASA TROPICS satellites
(VideoFromSpace via YouTube)