Ultra-light rocket Rocket 3.3 from the U.S. Astra Space could not put into orbit two meteorological satellites from the mission NASA Tropics due to engine problems with the second stage about 10 minutes after the launch, the developer of the carrier said on Twitter.
Rocket 3.3 was launched from Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida at 1:43 p.m. ET. It was to deliver the first two of NASA’s six tropical cyclone surveillance satellites into orbit.
“We had a normal flight of the first stage. However, the second stage shut down early and we were unable to deliver the cargoes into orbit,” Astra said in a statement.
NASA notes that despite the failure, the mission will perform scientific tasks with four satellites spread over two orbits. They are scheduled to be launched at a later date.
“Although today’s launch with [Astra] did not go as planned, the mission provided a great opportunity for new science and launch capabilities,” Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science division that supervises the mission, wrote on Twitter.