Astra CEO Says Space Is 'Hard' But Not 'Giving Up' After Rocket Fails Test Launch

Astra Space Inc ASTR said over the weekend that it failed to accomplish all mission objectives related to a test launch of its space vehicle LV0006.

What Happened: The launch vehicle took off at 6:35 PM ET on Saturday. A second after liftoff, one of its five main engines shut down, causing the spacecraft to lift off the pad slowly before resuming its trajectory, the company said in a statement.

“After approximately two minutes and thirty seconds of flight, the range issued an all engine-shutdown command, ending the flight,” the company said.

Thereafter, the vehicle achieved an altitude of approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles), before safely returning to Earth.

Astra Chair and CEO Chris Kemp shared a video of the launch on Twitter and said he was “incredibly proud” of the Astra team.

Reviewing flight data and video, two things are very clear - 1) An engine shut down right after launch 2) Everything that happened next made me incredibly proud of our team. Space may be hard, but like this rocket, we are not giving up. #AdAstra pic.twitter.com/2g3n812EaW

— Chris Kemp (@Kemp) August 29, 2021

On Friday, Astra aborted an earlier attempt to launch LV0006.

Why It Matters: The launch was conducted with the United States Space Force. Astra is under contract to perform a second launch later this year, as per an earlier report.

See Also: Elon Musk Offers SpaceX Help To NASA As Spacesuits Make Bottleneck In 2024 Moon Landing

Astra has a focus on broadband connectivity, Internet of Things (IoT), national security, and GPS among others. It was the first space company to begin trading on Nasdaq last month.

The company announced a blank-check merger with Holicity Inc in February that valued it at $2.1 billion.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, SpaceX, led by Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk, launched its Dragon craft using a Falcon 9 rocket on a commercial resupply mission from Florida.

Dragon is expected to autonomously dock to the international space station on Aug. 30.

Price Action: On Friday, Astra shares closed nearly 2.5% higher at $11.67 in the regular session and fell 9% in the after-hours trading to $10.62.

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