T+177: NASA VCLS 2, Relativity, Astra, and Firefly

NASA awarded Venture Class Launch Services contracts to Astra, Firefly, and Relativity. Astra almost made orbit with its most recent test flight of Rocket 3.2. And something is up at Firefly, but I don’t know what yet.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Brandon, Matthew, Simon, Lauren, Melissa, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, Grant, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, and six anonymous—and 447 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA Awards Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 Contract | NASA
• NASA Awards Venture Class Launch Services Contracts | NASA
• Astra, Relativity, and Firefly Win NASA Venture Class Launch Services Contracts - Main Engine Cut Off
• Virgin Orbit on Twitter: “Our vehicles, hardware, and software are all ready to go. With two rehearsals already complete, one final wet dress rehearsal is all that remains for us to do. However, the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting our ability to safely operate, and thus our schedule.”
• Astra narrowly misses reaching orbit on second launch - SpaceNews
• Astra’s smallsat launcher reaches space on second test flight – Spaceflight Now
• Astra on Twitter: “A quick video recap of our 8.5-minute flight to space today!”
• A Small-Rocket Maker Is Running a Different Kind of Space Race
• At Astra, failure is an option | Ars Technica
• Main Engine Cut Off on Twitter: “Something is up at @Firefly_Space, though. Max Polyakov and Mark Watt have been removed from Firefly’s about page within the last month or two. Here it is on the Wayback Machine from October…”
• About - Firefly Aerospace
• About - Firefly Aerospace (as of October, 2020)
• Savage Memes and Lunar Dreams: Deceptive Dating Sites' Intimate Ties to Firefly Aerospace

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