Hoping a new year brings better outcomes, the Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will return to flight at Vandenberg Space Force Base as soon as Sunday following a couple of failures in 2025.

The Texas company’s small rocket is expected to lift off from Space Launch Complex-2 between 4:50 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. for what has been dubbed the Stairway to Seven mission.

Firefly initially aimed for Saturday, but announced hours before window’s planned opening that the mission had been delayed at least a day. 

The rocket’s liftoff has been thwarted by recent rainstorms, which delayed the departure by more than a week, as well as upper-level winds that exceeded guidelines for the launch. 

A live webcast of the mission will begin 20 minutes before liftoff and can be found on Firefly’s YouTube page by clicking here.

Alpha’s launch is labeled a test operation as Firefly looks to validate key systems ahead of the firm’s next-generation rocket featuring various upgrades.

Saturday’s launch will be the last flown in the rocket’s current configuration and serves as a test flight “with the primary goal to achieve nominal first- and second-stage performance,” according to an update released by Firefly.

The subsystems tested on Flight 7, including the avionics and thermal improvements, will allow Firefly to gain flight heritage and validate lessons learned ahead of the full configuration upgrade.

The test demonstration mission follows the failure of the sixth Alpha launch on April 29 at Vandenberg.

The vehicle was three seconds short of achieving orbital velocity and five seconds short of the target payload deployment orbit, according to Firefly’s update on the review released in late August.

Using ground-based video, onboard telemetry, post-flight testing and more, Firefly pinpointed the probable cause as excessive heat from plume-induced flow separation.

“Alpha Flight 6 flew a higher angle of attack than prior missions,” Firefly said. “Plume-induced flow separation intensified heat on the leeward side reducing structural margins, causing the booster to rupture from stage separation induced loads.

“Fortunately, the corrective actions are straight forward: increase thermal protection system thickness on Stage 1 and reduce angle of attack during key phases of the flight.”

Moving toward a launch in late 2025, Firefly encountered another failure during a ground test on Sept. 29 in Texas. A review blamed a process error integration of stage one, resulting in a minute hydrocarbon contamination. That led to a combustion event in one of the engines during the ground test. 

The test stand structure remained intact, although the mishap created a dramatic column of smoke.

“Naturally, moments like these create opportunities to enhance Firefly’s culture and focus on the fundamentals that are required to navigate through the complexities of rocket systems,” said Adam Oakes, Firefly Aerospace’s vice president of launch.

Firefly implemented corrective actions, which included increasing inspection requirements for the fluid systems, optimizing the first-stage sensors and incorporating additional automated aborts. 

The Texas-based firm also implemented key improvements following a daylong quality stand-down during which workers reviewed and refined existing procedures.

Firefly’s Block II upgrades, set to appear on Flight 8, are designed to enhance reliability. 

The Block II configuration also includes a 7-foot increase to Alpha’s length, consolidated batteries and avionics built in-house, an enhanced thermal protection system, and stronger carbon composite structures built with automated machinery, according to Firefly.