Firefly Aerospace launches its 4th Alpha rocket

It’s Steve Clarke’s job to merge the goals of space scientists with NASA’s strategic plans for exploring the solar system, two factors which are not always in lock-step, as the space agency seeks to return humans to the moon, and eventually send astronauts to Mars.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander will deploy first and is designated as the primary payload and ispace’s Resilience lander will follow about 30 minutes after. Liftoff from pad 39A happened at 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 UTC).

The anomaly came about a month after the FAA issued a Return to Flight determination for Firefly’s Alpha rockets following an anomaly experienced during Alpha Flight 6 in April.