Firefly Alpha | Stairway to Seven
Status: Success | Launched: Mar 12, 2026 00:50 UTC
Launch Provider & Rocket
- Provider: Firefly Aerospace (Commercial)
- Rocket: Firefly Alpha — Firefly Alpha family
Mission
Firefly Alpha's Flight 7 is a test flight and return-To-Flight for the launch vehicle after its April 2025 launch failure. It will test and validate key systems ahead of Firefly’s Block II configuration upgrade on Flight 8 that’s designed to enhance reliability and manufacturability across the vehicle. Flight 7 is the last flown in Alpha’s current configuration and will test multiple Block II subsystems, including the in-house avionics and thermal improvements, to gain flight heritage and validate lessons learned ahead of the full configuration upgrade on Flight 8. This launch also delivered a demonstrator payload for Lockheed Martin.
- Type: Test Flight
- Orbit: Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Launch Site
- Pad: Space Launch Complex 2W
- Location: Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
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Launch data sourced automatically from the Launch Library 2 API. Last refreshed: 2026-08-22T17:00:54.526451+00:00.