The First Phase Of The Alpha Firefly Rocket Explodes During Pre-Flight Test

Alpha rocket failed in pre-flight test (photo: dock. Firefly Aerospace)

JAKARTA Firefly Aerospace experienced a setback on Monday, September 29. This was caused by an Alpha rocket that exploded when the company conducted pre-flight trials.

This explosion occurred at the Firefly facility located in haphazard, Texas. This flight test was carried out to prepare for the top stage of the rocket. The top stage is planned to be used on Alpha's seventh flight.

"During testing ... the first phase of the Alpha Flight 7 Firefly rocket experienced an incident that resulted in the disappearance of the stage," Firefly wrote on its official website about hours after the crash.

Firefly also explained that they had followed the right safety protocol so that the workers were in a safe condition. For now, Firefly is assessing the impact of the damage to the test site.

This isn't the first time an Alpha rocket has failed. In April, the company also failed to launch because its first-stage booster broke out shortly after being separated from its top stage.

The explosion caused the upper engine nozzle of Alpha to be damaged. In addition, the LM 400-mile Lockheed Martin satellite, which was the payload in the launch, was declared missing.

The US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has just received the results of an investigation into the Alpha rocket crash that occurred last April. Now, Firefly needs to conduct an investigation and make another launch mitigation plan before re-launching its rocket.

"We learned from each test to improve our design and build a more reliable system," Firefly said. "We will share more information about the next step in the future."