Firefly Aerospace Successfully Launches Alpha Flight 7

Firefly Aerospace announced the successful launch of its Alpha Flight 7 Stairway to Seven mission. The Alpha rocket lifted off from the company's Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 5:50 pm PDT on March 11. It completed an orbital insertion and delivered a demonstrator payload for Lockheed Martin. The rocket performed a stage two engine relight during the mission. It also validated key Alpha Block II upgrades, including a new in-house avionics suite and an enhanced thermal protection system. These steps occurred ahead of the full Block II configuration upgrade planned for Flight 8. Chief Executive Officer Jason Kim said the flight was flawlessly executed with all mission requirements completed. He credited improvements across engineering, production, test, integration, and operations for higher quality and reliability. The company made these changes over the last several months. Vice President of Launch Adam Oakes said Flight 7 served as a critical opportunity to validate Alpha performance ahead of the Block II upgrade. He expressed pride in the team's perseverance and stated full confidence in the rocket.