Astra Space scrubs first Florida launch a second time

Astra Space postponed its first rocket launch from Florida on Monday for the second time in three days due to a "minor telemetry issue" and did not set a new launch date, a company official said.

"Unfortunately, we need to stand down from today's launch attempt," Astra product manager Carolina Grossman said during a live launch broadcast.

The rocket's software aborted a launch attempt planned at 1:50 p.m. EST at 13 seconds before liftoff. Grossman said the company would investigate the possibility of resetting the launch countdown, but later said that would not happen.

Astra also had scrubbed a launch Saturday due to a "failure" in some ground equipment, but the company didn't provide more detail on the cause.

The New York Stock Exchange briefly halted trading of Astra's stock when the value plunged by about 12 percent Monday to $4.54 per share after the launch abort, but recovered some value afterward.

Astra has faced criticism and skepticism of its business plan as it planned the Florida launch. It is the first new private company to attempt a Florida orbital launch since SpaceX began launching from the state over a decade ago.

Concerns over wind in the region also had prompted a delay of more than 35 minutes earlier in the countdown.

The launch site is Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company previously tested its rocket in California and launched from Alaska.

The company has mounted four very small satellites, or CubeSats, on the rocket as designed by NASA and university students. The spacecraft are to conduct space experiments under a 2020 NASA contract award of $3.9 million to Astra.

NASA's mission name for the spaceflight is ELaNa 41, which stands for Educational Launch of Nanosatellites.

Astra has a fast-tracked Federal Aviation Administration license for the launch under a new rule that attempts to streamline the licensing process.

Astra plans to provide a link on its website, Astra.com, for a livestream of the launch beginning at 12 noon EST.

The satellites are:

-- BAMA-1, designed by University of Alabama, to test a type of spacecraft sail that would create drag in the upper atmosphere, leading to rapid deorbiting of the craft.

-- INCA, designed by New Mexico State University, which stands for Ionospheric Neutron Content Analyzer and will study the neutron spectrum in low-Earth orbit.

-- QubeSat, by University of California, Berkeley, which will test and characterize the effects of certain conditions on quantum gyroscopes in space.

-- R5-S1, designed by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to demonstrate a fast and cost-effective way to build very small satellites by demonstrating some in-space camera inspection.

Related Links
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com

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