Fireyard Aerospace launches Alpha rocket for first time this weekend

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Fireyard Aerospace launches Alpha rocket for first time this weekend

The launch business of Firefly Aerospace will start this weekend, and opens new funding opportunities for growth, according to the company's chief executive, WASHINGTON rocket builder for the first time this weekend.

Firefly, based near Austin, Texas, launched its two-stage Alpha rocket in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday from a U.S. Space Force base in Southern California, sending its first payloads into orbit after an initial attempt over a year ago failed mid-flight.

Saturday morning changed everything for the company, Firefly Chief Executive Bill Weber told Reuters. This was a test flight, and we tried to keep our enthusiasm tempered. It became the fifth private U.S. rocket type to reach orbit since 2008, after the Falcon 9 from Elon Musk's privately held SpaceX, and rockets from the public companies Rocket Lab USA Inc, Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc, and Astra Space Inc.

Firefly's mission success comes after years of difficulty including a 2017 rescue from Ukrainian-born entrepreneur Max Polyakov's Noosphere Ventures. U.S. national security concerns forced Noosphere to sell its majority stake to private equity giant AE Industrial Partners earlier this year, ending a monthslong crisis that had paralyzed Firefly's start business.

AEI led a Series B funding round that brought in $75 million for Firefly in March.

The company, which sells Alpha for around $15 million a launch, has six missions planned in 2023 and 12 in 2024.

Weber said Saturday's mission could allow Firefly to raise more funds to complete the construction of manufacturing facilities in Cape Canaveral, Florida, home to Alpha's second planned launchpad. It could also accelerate the development of MLV, a bigger rocket that the company plans to build with Northrop Grumman Weber, suggesting the company may explore another fundraising round, but it rejected the idea of going public. He said that Firefly is focused on the private development of Alpha's production line, the MLV rocket and its new, more powerful engine.

Weber said if Firefly opts for a private raise, it would aim to get the cash flow-positive company and be the last raise that this company needs to do.