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If you are thinking about catching a glimpse of the Alpha rocket or watching a livestream of the launch, this is all the pieces to learn about Firefly’s essential return-to-flight mission in California.
Get prepared, Arizonans: A rocket launch today from Southern California could turn into extensively seen throughout the West Coast.
Firefly Aerospace, a spaceflight firm primarily based in Texas, has been working toward a crucial launch of its Alpha rocket for weeks from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. After poor climate in California compelled a earlier postponement, the rocket is now due to get off the ground March 9 on its first launch since an earlier mission in April 2025 led to failure.
And regardless of the automobile’s smaller stature simply shy of 100 ft tall, Firefly’s Alpha rocket is projected to be extensively seen past California, together with in Arizona.
If you are thinking about catching a glimpse of the Alpha rocket or watching a livestream of the launch, here’s everything to know about Firefly’s essential return-to-flight mission in California.
Is there a Vandenberg rocket launch at present?
The subsequent rocket launch from California might happen as quickly as Monday, March 9, on the Vandenberg Space Force Base. Firefly Aerospace announced the corporate is working towards getting its Alpha rocket off the bottom throughout a launch window that might be open from 5:50 to 7:50 p.m. PT.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses business rocket launches, suggests in a planning advisory a backup alternative can be accessible the next day.
Firefly Aerospace plans return-to-flight mission in California
Firefly has been for months planning a essential return-to-flight mission for its Alpha rocket, a 96.7-foot, two-stage expendable rocket able to carrying greater than 2,000 kilos to low-Earth orbit.
When it will get off the bottom, Alpha is because of fly on a southwest trajectory over the Pacific Ocean after launching from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg.
The mission, dubbed Stairway to Seven, can be the seventh and closing launch of the Alpha rocket below its present configuration. The eighth flight for Alpha can be below what’s referred to as “block 2” for the spacecraft, which means {that a} new model of the rocket might be about seven ft taller with improved subsystems.
The upcoming mission merely serves as a take a look at flight, with Firefly’s aim being for Alpha’s first and second levels to carry out as anticipated with the intention to “test and validate key systems,” the corporate stated.
Firefly Alpha rocket visibility map. Where to see launch from Arizona
Firefly’s rocket launch needs to be extensively seen throughout the West Coast, spanning not simply California, however neighboring states like Nevada and Arizona. In truth, regardless of launching on a southwest trajectory, the Alpha rocket should still be seen thundering into the sky from most of Oregon and Utah, in addition to southwestern Idaho and western New Mexico.
That’s in accordance with Firefly Aerospace, which shared a flight visibility map forward of a earlier launch try that confirmed particularly the place and when throughout the launch the Alpha rocket is projected to be seen.
Depending on the circumstances, the rocket might be seen inside two minutes of liftoff from western Arizona earlier than turning into seen inside three minutes throughout your complete state.
How to look at livestream of rocket launch at present
A livestream of the rocket launch will start about 20 minutes earlier than the launch window opens, Firefly announced.
The webcast, in partnership with NASASpaceflight.com, might be accessible here or under.
Launch to be Firefly’s 1st since April 2025 ‘mishap,’ take a look at stand explosion
The impending spaceflight can be Alpha’s first launch since an April 2025 mission from Vandenberg led to a “mishap” that grounded the rocket for months.
During the April 29 spaceflight, a part of the rocket crashed into the Pacific Ocean whereas on a a mission to launch a prototype satellite tv for pc owned by Lockheed Martin into orbit. The rocket’s sixth flight total, the mission was to be the primary of a planned 25 launches within the subsequent 5 years below an settlement between Firefly and Lockheed Martin.
Firefly then confronted one other setback on the finish of September 2025 when the primary stage of the Alpha rocket blew up on the test stand in Central Texas as the corporate was making ready for the automobile to return to flight. No accidents had been reported throughout the explosion close to Firefly’s facility in Briggs, footage of which went viral on-line.
The incident, attributable to what Firefly officers later described as “a process error,” prompted the corporate to ship a unique Alpha first stage to Vandenberg for the upcoming seventh spaceflight.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]
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