Following delays the past two days, the Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket lifted off at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday en route to demonstrating its abilities for the Stairway to Seven mission.

The rocket, standing 96.7 feet tall, rose away from Space Launch Complex-2 at 5:50 p.m. into mostly clear skies that allowed viewers to watch the southwest flight path.

The early mission data delivered welcome news for the Firefly team, including a positive report for a key milestone of “nominal orbit insertion.” That typically shows a successful flight and suggestion the payload could be placed where needed in space.

“Alpha Flight 7 has achieved orbit. Stay tuned as the team reviews the test flight data to verify nominal performance,” Firefly representatives stated on social media. 

Minutes after liftoff, the team saw an expected loss of signal. Engineers expect to sift through data to assess the performance of the first- and second-stage boosters. 

Shortly after 7 p.m., Firefly declared mission success.

“Alpha Flight 7 was flawlessly executed with all mission requirements completed, further proving the resiliency, innovation, and passion of the Firefly team,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace.

The rocket carried a test demonstration payload, but Firefly did not provide additional details ahead of the liftoff.

“It will allow us to gather data for Firefly and our customers,” Morgan Feanny, a Firefly structures engineer, said. “But as a test flight the primary goal of this flight is to achieve nominal performance on Alpha’s first and second stage. “

The company later said the rocket carried a demonstration payload for Lockheed Martin Corp.

Firefly also tested several features ahead of the Block II update for the Alpha rocket. The first Block II rocket will debut for Alpha’s eighth mission. 

Features for the upgraded rocket include 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.

“Over the last several months, we took a hard look at our processes across engineering, production, test, integration, and operations and invested the time required to make a series of improvements to ensure a higher level of quality and reliability in every Alpha we deliver and launch as we move to our Block II upgrade,” Kim added.

Wednesday’s liftoff occurred after Firefly had to await pesky upper-level winds that exceeded safety rules and prevented the departures last week and then two questionable sensor readings that delayed liftoff attempts Monday and Tuesday.

Texas-based Firefly created Alpha to carry smaller payloads for national security, commercial and civil missions. 

Alpha employs carbon fiber composite structure to lift heavier payloads at a lower cost, according to Firefly. The small vehicle can carry payloads weighing up to 2,205 pounds. 

In comparison, Alpha stands shorter than the 229.6-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX. That firm’s rocket can deliver payloads to low-Earth orbit weighing up to 55,000 pounds. 

The Alpha rocket debut liftoff met a dramatic end Sept. 2, 2021, shortly after lifting off from Vandenberg. 

The firm’s following missions have encountered mixed results, with Alpha’s most recent liftoff in April experiencing a glitch that kept the satellites from reaching orbit.

Last year, Firefly also saw the first-stage booster’s ground test in Texas end with an unplanned explosion delaying the seventh Alpha rocket’s launch several months.

Meanwhile, Vandenberg’s next launch is set to be a Falcon 9 rocket to place 25 Starlink satellites into orbit on Friday.

That mission, which will be the 32nd launch and landing for the first-stage booster, is aiming for liftoff between 3:58 a.m. and 7:58 a.m. Friday from Space Launch Complex-4 on the South Base.