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This is a replay of the live stream. The upper stage engine shut down early, causing a mission failure. Launch window: 12:00 - 2:00 pm EDT (16:00 - 18:00 UTC) Launch site: SLC-46, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida Destination: Low Earth Orbit A commercial small satellite launch vehicle developed by Astra will launch the first pair of small CubeSats for NASA’s TROPICS mission. The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats, or TROPICS, mission will measure environmental and inner-core conditions for tropical cyclones. Delayed from April. Thanks to NASASpaceflight and Chris Bergin for...

Investigators have determined that two things went wrong during the Feb. 10 flight, Andrew Griggs, senior director of mission management and assurance at Astra, wrote in a blog post on Sunday (March 6). First, LV0008's payload fairing — the protective "nose cone" that surrounds satellites during launch — didn't deploy properly. "The separation mechanisms (our fairing has five of these) were fired in an incorrect order, which resulted in off-nominal movement of the fairing that caused an electrical disconnection," Griggs wrote. "Due to the disconnection, the last separation mechanism never received its command to open, which prevented the fairing from...

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 10 (UPI) -- California-based Astra Space plans to launch a NASA mission from Florida on Thursday for the third attempt in a week for the new space company. If successful, Astra would become the first new private company to launch from Florida since SpaceX did so over a decade ago.

Rocket builder Astra Space on Saturday launched its first rocket since the company went public. At liftoff, the rocket appeared to move sideways rather than straight up. Astra founder, chairman and CEO Chris Kemp told CNBC that about a second into the flight, one engine shut down. The company is currently investigating the reason. Astra founder and Chief Technology Officer Adam London added that the system performed relatively well under the circumstances. The rocket had sufficient thrust even with one engine out to very slowly lift off the pad, and the guidance system maintained control of the rocket. About 2...

The California-based spaceflight startup launched its first orbital test flight tonight (Sept. 11), sending its two-stage Rocket 3.1 skyward from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska at 11:20 p.m. EDT (7:20 p.m. local Alaska time and 0320 GMT on Sept. 12). The 38-foot-tall (12 meters) booster, which was carrying no payloads, didn't make it all the way to the final frontier. The failure was no shock; debut flights rarely go swimmingly, and Astra had explicitly said it was not expecting perfection on this one. In a prelaunch mission description, company representatives wrote that the primary objective was to achieve a...

A test flight in Alaska of a small launch vehicle by a stealthy startup company ended in failure in late November, the Federal Aviation Administration has revealed. In a speech Dec. 6 at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce space conference here discussing the agency's approach to commercial spaceflight safety, FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell mentioned a recent, but previously unreported, accident involving a launch taking place from Alaska one week ago. A launch license the FAA issued to Astra Space Inc. on Oct. 15, also available on the FAA website, authorized the company to perform a suborbital flight of its...

The not-so-secret secret. The U.S. military's incredibly advanced triangular shaped aircraft with anti-gravity and cloaking technology.

Irondale, Oct 27, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- EWTN Global Catholic Network will launch a new television network in Germany beginning Sunday, Nov. 6. EWTN Katholisches TV will air Catholic religious programming 24-hours-a-day on Astra 1H, one of the world's largest providers of direct-to-home satellite services, reaching 135 million homes or 55% of all TV homes in Europe. "We have been broadcasting part-time in Germany since July 2000, but the launch of our new network, EWTN Katholisches TV, on Astra IH will place us in the same satellite neighborhood as many of Germany's most popular television channels," said EWTN President...

Here's the latest addition to my collection, an Astra Model 3000 manufactured in 1951. The Astra 3000 was an updated version of the Model 300, with a grip that swelled near the bottom, a pushbutton magazine release on the lower left grip, and a loaded chamber indicator. It was made in .32 ACP and .380 ACP. Production was discontinued in 1956. This particular example is a .32 made for the Spanish police.