Firefly Alpha

Firefly Alpha is a two-stage expendable small-lift launch vehicle built by Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, to carry small satellites to low Earth orbit on dedicated flights or as rideshare payloads. Its first stage uses four Reaver engines and its second stage one Lightning engine, both burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen on a tap-off cycle, and the airframe is made of carbon fibre composite. The present rocket is a redesign made after Firefly Space Systems went bankrupt in 2017; the original 2014 concept was a smaller vehicle with an aerospike first stage. The first launch, on 3 September 2021 from Vandenberg, ended in failure when an engine failed during ascent. The second, on 1 October 2022, reached orbit but left its satellites too low, and the first fully successful flight came in September 2023.