The Firefly Saga

Doug Messier has a hell of a read over on Parabolic Arc about the Firefly saga over the last three years.

We’ve heard bits and pieces of this before, but there’s a ton in here about investors, some Vulcan (Stratolaunch) involvement I had not heard previously, and a bunch of accusations in both directions:

Later that month, Vulcan ended its investment in Firefly and abandoned plans to launch Alpha boosters from Stratolaunch’s airplane, the source said. Chuck Beames, who had favored the rocket, left his position as Vulcan’s president as a result.

On Oct. 6, Stratolaunch announced an agreement to purchase three Pegasus XL rockets for use on its aircraft. Pegasus would be an interim step as the company developed other boosters to launch larger payloads.

By then, the damage to Firefly had already been done. The company furloughed all of its staff at the end of September as it continued to search for other investors.

If you’re at all interested in Firefly, this is seriously worth a read, and it even adds some insight into the Stratolaunch saga, as well.

As with any of these types of stories (company drama that gets told years after), you’re hearing from the disaffected and/or the victors.

You don’t know which info is from which side, so it’s hard to string together the real truth, but I always like hearing as much as possible for consideration.