Richard T. Par
Happy Fourth of July, fellow Americans! Just thought I'd share these two pics that I took of Firefly Aerospace's latest launch of its Alpha rocket last night.
Alpha's fifth flight since October 2022 took place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, at 9:04 PM, Pacific Daylight Time...carrying 8 NASA-sponsored CubeSats to low-Earth orbit as part of Firefly's Noise of Summer mission (which is officially designated as FLTA005).
I watched the Noise of Summer launch from a window at my house in Pomona, California, just like I did with the very first SpaceX Starlink flight which I photographed back in March. Assuming that the next Alpha rocket lifts off in the evening just like FLTA005, I'll be sure to at least step outside my home to capture images (probably with a new smartphone and not my current Google Pixel 4A) as Firefly's sixth operational launch vehicle soars toward space from the Central California coastline!
Enjoy the fireworks that will occur much closer to the ground tonight, my awesome Yanks.
Richard T. Par
🎵 After the #NoiseofSummer have gone 🎵 – After expected deployment, the CubeSat teams are now awaiting Acquisition of Signal.
— NASA's Launch Services Program (@NASA_LSP) July 4, 2024
This wraps @Firefly_Space's Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 mission for NASA. pic.twitter.com/hAABA7YQc4
Great way to kick off America's birthday! The Alpha #FLTA005 #NoiseofSummer team completed orbital insertion, payload deployment, second stage relight, and orbital plane change. More here: https://t.co/RlPand8NuW
— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) July 4, 2024
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