{"id":21663,"date":"2024-07-02T22:11:14","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/this-week-in-launch-firefly-back-for-its-fifth-flight\/"},"modified":"2024-07-02T22:11:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:11:14","slug":"this-week-in-launch-firefly-back-for-its-fifth-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/this-week-in-launch-firefly-back-for-its-fifth-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week In Launch: Firefly back for its fifth flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t\"FireflyImage: Firefly Gallery<\/p>\n

” data-image-caption=”<\/p>\n

Image: Firefly<\/p>\n

” data-large-file=”https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/12\/Alpha-Stage-1-and-Stage-2-Mated-with-Payload-Fairing-scaled-1.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024″>

\n\t\t\t\tImage: Firefly\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On this quiet holiday week, China will actually be launching more than SpaceX, and even on Fourth of July (how rude). However, we do finally get to see Firefly return to the launch site after December\u2019s partial failure of its Alpha rocket \u2013 scheduled for late Monday evening.<\/p>\n

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This Week\u2019s Launches:<\/h2>\n
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  • July 1 (Monday)\n
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    • Firefly | Alpha | Noise Of Summer | 9:03 P.M. PT\n
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      • SLC-2W, Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • July 3 (Wednesday)\n
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        • SpaceX | Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 8-9 | 2:01 A.M. ET\n
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          • SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • July 4 (Thursday)\n
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            • CASC | Long March 6A | Unknown Payload | 7:00 P.M. ET\n
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              • LC-9A, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
              • July 5 (Friday)\n
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                • iSpace | Hyperbola 1 | Unknown Payload | 7:40 P.M. ET\n
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                  • Site 95A, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    Firefly hoping for fully successful mission<\/h2>\n

                    Later tonight Firefly is hoping to launch its fifth Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This will be an important mission for Firefly to get 100% right as it already has had a shaky start to its rocket career and some stability would be nice for it.<\/p>\n

                    On board will be eight NASA sponsored payloads all created by either college or high school students, except for two NASA ones. Part of NASA\u2019s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program, most of these CubeSats will be testing novel ideas in space tech advancements.<\/p>\n

                    An interesting payload, R5-S4, being built by NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center, will test a sort of optical \u201clicense plate\u201d for satellites. The satellite\u2019s unique ID will be flashed from an emitter on the spacecraft that can be seen by small, ground-based telescopes. This is being designed in conjunction with Los Alamos National Laboratory to help reduce the growing confusion as to what is what up there.<\/p>\n

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