Firefly Eyes Late February for Return to Flight

Following a mishap in April of 2025, Firefly Aerospace is aiming to return its Alpha rocket to launch on the 28th of February. Not only will the flight, designated FLTA007, return the small lifter to operational status, but it will also be the final flight of Alpha in its initial configuration. Carrying no payload and being described as merely a test flight, FLTA007 will prove a crucial final milestone ahead of the introduction of the vehicle’s Block II configuration on Alpha’s eighth flight.

During Alpha’s sixth flight, an energetic event which occurred during stage separation resulted in significant damage to the upper stage, most notably destroying the engine bell of the stage’s singular engine. Despite the anomaly, the upper stage engine continued to burn for its full duration. However the resulting performance loss proved insurmountable for the vehicle, which failed to establish a stable orbit of the Earth. The mission, nicknamed “Message in a Booster,” carried a tech demo for Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite. LM 400 is a multi-mission satellite bus designed and built by Lockheed Martin and provided to customers as a service for various roles in Earth orbit. The satellite aboard Alpha’s sixth flight was seeking to prove out the technologies for the satellite in an operational space environment, but ultimately burned up with the second stage over the Pacific Ocean.

Following the anomaly, Firefly Aerospace conducted an investigation into the mishap alongside the FAA. It was determined that the angle of attack the vehicle flew, notably higher than prior flights, resulted in excessive stress and heating on the lower stage during separation, causing the explosion. The corrective major actions to prevent the anomaly on future flights were to modify thermal protection systems on the booster and adjust trajectories to reduce stress on the vehicle. The enhanced thermal protection system is one of the key technologies that Alpha’s next flight integrates.

The return to flight is just the beginning of various objectives Firefly seeks to achieve in 2026. Alongside flight 7 and the subsequent introduction of Alpha Block II, Firefly aims to launch not one, but two other launch vehicles for the first time. While technically owned by Northrop Grumman, the Antares 330 series rocket uses a Firefly-built first stage, replacing the retired 230-series first stage which used Russian-built engines. Since the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting retirement of the Antares 230-series booster, Northrop’s Cygnus spacecraft has been riding aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Antares 330 will return the Cygnus spacecraft to its own lifter, with its first flight currently planned no earlier than June of this year. Meanwhile, also slated to occur sometime this year, Firefly aims to launch its larger Eclipse rocket for the first time. Eclipse, previously Medium Launch Vehicle, is a medium-lift launch vehicle, eventually aiming to be partially reusable, which uses the same first stage as Antares 330, but with a Firefly-produced upper stage and payload section. 

In late 2026, Firefly is also aiming to conduct its second mission for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The mission, Blue Ghost Mission-2, aims to deliver several government and commercial payloads to the lunar farside. Firefly’s successful first Blue Ghost mission landed on the Moon in March of 2025, and is thus far the only fully successful mission to come out of NASA’s CLPS program.

As Firefly Aerospace seeks to assert itself as a competent, multi-role player in the commercial space landscape, returning to flight is the first step of many the company may take in 2026. Multiple new launch systems are entering the landscape and seeking to ramp flight rates this year, and the U.S. Senate is looking to encourage further diversity from NASA’s launch vehicle contracts. With this in mind, establishing and maintaining a consistent flight rate and reliable service is crucial for every launch provider aiming to carve out a niche in the market. To this end, the next launches from Firefly will be critical for the company’s future.