Firefly lunar lander touches down on the moon

POSTED BY: second
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 17:26
VIEWED: 46397
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SECOND

Monday, June 21, 2021 5:52 PM

The company is not inspired by the most cancelled show to ever air (though they went to the trouble of buy the domain www.firefly.com ). Rather, Markusic says it came to him while sitting on his back porch one evening watching actual fireflies, when he was seized by the notion and vision of a future where spacecraft lifting off from Earth to Mars might be so many in number and frequency that they would appear as fireflies in the night.

-- from The Rise and Fall and Rise of Firefly Aerospace, posted by Jeff Cunningham on June 19, 2021
https://takebackthesky.net/2021/06/19/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-fi
refly-aerospace/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

SECOND

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 12:32 AM

NEW DATE for Maiden Flight

Firefly Alpha by Firefly Aerospace

Launch Status
Date/Time May Change
Fri · Jul 30th, 2021
7:00 PM CDT
www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/firefly-alpha-maiden-flight/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

THG

Monday, July 12, 2021 11:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:

The company is not inspired by the most cancelled show to ever air (though they went to the trouble of buy the domain www.firefly.com ). Rather, Markusic says it came to him while sitting on his back porch one evening watching actual fireflies, when he was seized by the notion and vision of a future where spacecraft lifting off from Earth to Mars might be so many in number and frequency that they would appear as fireflies in the night.

-- from The Rise and Fall and Rise of Firefly Aerospace, posted by Jeff Cunningham on June 19, 2021
https://takebackthesky.net/2021/06/19/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-fi
refly-aerospace/

Bullshit

T

THG

Monday, July 12, 2021 11:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
NEW DATE for Maiden Flight

Firefly Alpha by Firefly Aerospace

Launch Status
Date/Time May Change
Fri · Jul 30th, 2021
7:00 PM CDT
www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/firefly-alpha-maiden-flight/

Fingers crossed...

T

THG

Wednesday, July 21, 2021 4:22 AM

Yep, fingers crossed.

T

SECOND

Wednesday, July 21, 2021 4:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:

Yep, fingers crossed.

T

The launch date has been delayed to August 30, 2021.
https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/firefly-alpha-maiden-flight/

They didn't actually bother giving a specific date other than "August 2021". Instead, the countdown clock is now at 1 month, 10 days, 1 hour, 29 minutes from now.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

SECOND

Sunday, August 22, 2021 7:15 PM

Launch of the Maiden Flight has been delayed until

Wed Sep 1st, 2021
7:00 PM CDT

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/firefly-alpha-maiden-flight/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

SECOND

Sunday, August 22, 2021 8:34 PM

Firefly Aerospace conducted a 15 second static-fire test of the Alpha launch vehicle on August 18, 2021.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

THG

Wednesday, August 25, 2021 3:21 PM

I'm keeping an eye open. Lets hope it flies soon.

T

SECOND

Wednesday, August 25, 2021 4:17 PM

Firefly is moving into the components business, starting with offering the engines it developed for Alpha to other customers. Markusic said Firefly has a contract to deliver about 50 engines to an unidentified company developing its own launch vehicle.

That’s a departure from the approach most companies have taken to be as vertically integrated as possible. “If you really want to get economies of scale, the more you can make, the better,” he said.

That components business will expand to other items, such as composite-overwrapped pressure vessels. “We have grander aspirations to have a large-scale e-commerce presence,” he said. “The dream is to point, click, and have a rocket engine the next day.”

* * *

Firefly announced Aug. 19 that it had set a Sept. 2 date for the first launch of its Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The announcement came a day after the small launch vehicle performed a successful 15-second static fire test on the pad at Vandenberg.

In an interview during the 36th Space Symposium here Aug. 24, Tom Markusic, chief executive of Firefly, said the only milestone left before the scheduled launch is finalizing paperwork. “The static-fire test was perfect,” he said. “If we had let the rocket go it would have flown. All the data looks great.”

The company has extensively tested that rocket, including nearly 20 hot-fire tests. “This vehicle has definitely been put through its paces,” he said. “We’re ready to go.”

The rocket could have been ready sooner but for the delayed delivery of a component needed for its flight termination system. Markusic declined to identify the specific component or its supplier, but said it was one of the few major components that the company did not develop in-house.

“The vendor could not get the components qualified and delivered on time,” he said. “We’re a year behind schedule on that flight termination system.”

More at https://spacenews.com/firefly-aerospaces-alpha-rocket-ready-for-first-
launch/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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