{"id":514291,"date":"2026-03-10T04:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/514291\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T04:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:10:10","slug":"firefly-delays-alpha-launch-attempt-at-vandenberg-due-to-sensor-reading-local-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/514291\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefly Delays Alpha Launch Attempt at Vandenberg Due to Sensor Reading | Local News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Alpha rocket won\u2019t fly Monday at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/a>, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/fireflyspace.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Firefly Aerospace<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOut of an abundance of caution, Firefly made the decision to stand down on today\u2019s Alpha Flight 7 test flight to investigate a sensor reading that was out of range,\u201d Firefly representatives posted on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Once verification is complete, the team will work with Vandenberg officials to confirm the next available launch date, Firefly added.<\/p>\n<p>While Tuesday had been a backup opportunity, it wasn\u2019t clear if the team could fully assess the sensor issue and make any needed fixes in time.<\/p>\n<p>The team scrubbed Monday\u2019s countdown after crews had started fueling the rocket for the Stairway to Seven mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"519\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/030926-Firefly-Alpha-Rocket1-contributed.jpg\" alt=\"A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket stands at Space Launch Complex-2 on Vandenberg Space Force Base awaiting liftoff for its seventh mission.\" class=\"wp-image-795121\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\tA Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket stands at Space Launch Complex-2 on Vandenberg Space Force Base awaiting liftoff for its seventh mission. Credit: Firefly Aerospace photo<\/p>\n<p>Following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noozhawk.com\/vandenbergs-next-mission-firefly-alpha-rocket-launch-on-monday\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">several flaws on earlier launches<\/a>, Firefly has labeled this as a test flight to demonstrate the first- and second-staged boosters perform as planned.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The flight also will demonstrate several features from the next-generation Alpha rocket.<\/p>\n<p>exas-based Firefly created Alpha to carry smaller payloads for national security, commercial and civil missions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alpha, stand 96.7 feet tal,l employs carbon fiber composite structure to lift heavier payloads at a lower cost, according to Firefly. The small vehicle can carry payloads weighing\u00a0 up to 2,205 pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In comparison, Alpha stands shorter than the 229.6-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket built by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacex.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SpaceX<\/a>. That firm\u2019s rocket can deliver payloads to low-Earth orbit weighing up to 55,000 pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Alpha rocket debut liftoff met a dramatic end Sept. 2, 2021 shortly after lifting off from Vandenberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The firm\u2019s following missions have encountered mixed results, with Alpha\u2019s most recent liftoff in April experiencing a glitch that kept the satellites from reaching orbit.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alpha rocket won\u2019t fly Monday at Vandenberg Space Force Base, according to Firefly Aerospace.\u00a0 \u201cOut of an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[983,79,193],"class_list":["post-514291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-local-news","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}